Aincrad Retold
by Agent 94
Summary: Dangerous places and creatures, ancient grudges and secrets, everlasting war and chaos in the castle of Aincrad. The fake reality, now the prison of 15000 unfortunate souls due to the dreams of a madman. How far must they struggle, what would they destroy and who would they sacrifice to earn their freedom? Features dungeon crawling, guild politics and international players.
1. Beta Test

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Beta Test

There was something etched on the dusty stone slab. Gloved hands wiped away the dust. A torch was brought on to the inscription illuminating the text. On it a warning was written and a voice read it out loud:

**_Be wary of these accursed halls,_**

**_In it roam monsters of anger and rage,_**

**_They knew not mercy,_**

**_Such is the fate of traitors._**

An eerie silence fell onto the hall. The fifty something warriors shuffled about uncomfortably. Some scratched their non-itchy heads; a few were looking back and forth with alert eyes. One could hear a pin dropped and the sound would have echoed throughout the dank, dark dungeon.

"Well, okay!" the leader at the front shouted, startling some of the group members. The leader was a man in his sixties, old but physically strong. His neatly combed hair was as grey as his long and neatly trimmed beard. He wore mostly leathers, with an iron chest plate and hauberk covering his torso plus matching gauntlets. He had a shortbow in one hand, a quiver of arrows was slightly visible behind his shoulder and a longsword hung off his belt. He cleared his throat and addressed the group.

"Welcome to «Traitor's Tomb 01» , ladies and gentlemen. We all know why we're here. Do you all still remember the briefing?" Murmurs spread and he could see blank, confused faces among them. "Okay, who thinks we need to go over the briefing again, raise your hand."

His face fell when he saw all of the raid members raising their hands. _Oh my God, we went over this twice already! _Calming himself, he spoke out in a loud and clear voice.

"We need to find the King's former Captain and lay him to rest. Unfortunately, we have yet to find his exact location." The last bit of information had some of them groaning.

He held up his hands, "Now calm down everyone. As some of you know, there are a lot of large, elaborate rooms that would make you think those would be his lair. Most aren't. Those rooms are filled with traps or his minions, wasting valuable manpower and resources." He waited a moment to let the information sink in before continuing.

"However, it seems like our search has nearly come to an end! Roughly 90% of the Tomb has been mapped out by our scouts and cartographers. To the East side," he pointed to the direction, "lay the only uncharted remains of the dungeon. And from our field reports, there seems to be a large concentration of Undead, meaning-"

"-that's where he's most likely hiding!" one of the arbalist at the back finished.

"Correct." If the leader was annoyed at the interruption, he didn't show it. "That's why we've brought a large party here compared to the smaller groups of scouts we sent beforehand. Not only that, we also hired some mercenaries to be our forward advance." He gestured his hands to a group of a dozen men wielding a mixture of halberds and longswords. Their uniform was that of full chainmail, dark blue tunics with a shield symbol over crisscrossed halberds. They stood out among the party, a concentrated drop of blue in a lake of colours. Azure Company was some of the higher tiered mercenaries around and they cost more than your average sellsword.

"Alright, time we move out! Formations, people!" The group of warriors fell into their planned squads. Half of the mercenary squad stood in front, shields and polearms rose. The other half consisting of longswordsmen, stood between them, ready to stab at anything that came too close for the halbardiers. Besides them a similar group of warriors in heavy armour stood in formation but with spears and a mixture of longswords and shortswords. Behind them were the medium armoured ones with kite shields and a variety of hammers and axes, single handed and two-handed alike. Further in the back were arbalists with readied crossbows and furthest in the back were the archers, arrows nocked and at the ready. The leader himself and the odd rest were in the middle, acting as backup for the front and the shield for the ranged attackers.

The march to the Captain's chamber was a long one. The torch bearers went to the side and lit up the ancient wall torches bathing the hall in an orange glow. Better to take it slow in a lighted area than fumbling about in the dark. The forward advance team was alert and tensed. Fearing any sort of monster that would emerge from the darkness. The back ranged support were just as anxious. They didn't have the luxury of having someone covering them and needed to be as alert with what's behind them as they did the front.

"Excuse me, Leader-sama." The leader looked up from his map. The addresser was a large muscular man, with dark skin and black braids that reached his shoulders. He was dressed in a leather vest which hardly contained his broad chest, brown cotton pants that were tucked in new leather boots. In his exposed muscular arms, was a large and long wooden club with iron spikes at one end - a kanabo - which he was carrying over the shoulder. The man was the perfect image of a stereotypical archetype of a barbarian.

"Yes, Benkei? And please, call me Ridwan," said the leader.

"I was wondering, where are the mobs of enemies that should be guarding these halls?" The one known as Ridwan stroked his beard answered in a tone that was befitting of the old sage image (or so he imagines). "We had some our scouts go forward the uncharted parts to reconnaissance. They're also clearing up the weaker enemies to save us some trouble." And as if coincidence wanted to illustrate his point, they passed a few corpses of dead Tomb Guards, all riddled with arrows.

"But what if they perish and don't make it back to us?" Benkei asked.

"No need to worry yourself. These scouts are experienced and have some of the best equipment available at this time. Whatever this dungeon throws at them, they'll be able to deal with it." Ridwan gave the brute a reassuring smile which seemed to calm his nerves. "That a new club?" he gestured to asker's long club.

"Yes I've been practicing it on some mobs outside of town. Even unlocked some new skills for it." The barbarian answered. Ridwan had first met the giant near the Spider Fields on the 8th floor on his way to complete a quest with a group of other people. He had seen Benkei swinging that club of his in wide arcs that left him vulnerable to attack. After saving him a trip to the first floor from a particularly dangerous mini-boss, a few minutes of teaching and a couple of hours grinding, he had become far more efficient with it. This led Benkei to join the older man on subsequent quests including the ninth floor dungeon.

Ridwan shook his head, smirking. "Good for you. Hopefully that'll come in handy soon. The Guards have mediocre armour but they come in numbers. Make sure to break their armour and shields down." The older man returned his attention to his map. "We're almost th-"A long agonizing scream echoed through the hallways, interrupting the two's discussion, followed by more screams and the sound of hacking and slashing. The sounds of battle died and replaced with rapid footsteps. A figure emerged from the dark, running full speed into the group. The front advance readied their weapons to skewer the hostile.

"Wait! He's a player! Let him pass!" Shields made way for the man. The figure slipped gracefully through and collapsed to one knee in front of the raid leader. His breathing was heavy, clearly from the fighting and running. Ridwan gave a quick inspection. The man was clad in a leather longcoat, his right shoulder pad was horribly damaged beyond repair and the damage was most likely done by some sort of blunt weapon. His left hand was holding his injured shoulder, his quality longsword still gripped in his hand. Benkei ripped off the broken shoulder pad and handed him one of his healing poultice from his pouch. The injured swordsman gave a silent 'thanks' and applied it to his wound. A quick thinker, that one was. The man in front looks suspiciously familiar …

"Kirito?" The one known as Kirito dropped the empty poultice before wielding his sword with both hands and stood up facing the direction he came from, "Talk later. We've got hostiles incoming!"

The heavy armour at the front raised their shields and pikes. Kirito joined the row of longswordsmen, Ridwan with the rest of the ranged attackers readied their missiles while Benkei and the mix of warriors in the middle stood ready. There was the unmistakable sound of running footsteps.

From the darkness, they emerged.

«Walking Corpses» in brass armour, wielding a variety of hammers and blades that were still covered in dust and spider web. Their faces still had what little remain of their skin. Their eyes glowed an unnatural blue. The Traitor's Guards ran fearlessly into the mass that was the raid group. The raiders of the tomb stood their ground.

"Here they come!"

They clashed.

The pikes were levelled just above the shoulder and as if they were all given a silent order, all the pikes were thrust out instantaneously. They made a sickening sound of steel through their skulls, tearing through dead flesh and ancient bones instantly. They pulled out and repeated the move again and again. Whatever Guard that was able to go through the pikemen's skewering were stabbed by longswordsmen through the gaps.

"Archers! Aim at a 40 degree angle!" Bows went up, arrows were nocked and strings were pulled. "Ready, loose!"

Ridwan's arrow was joined by dozens of others. Arrows pierced through the openings in the armours, some had even perced the eyes and destroyed their brains. Most of them did hit their mark but the arrows bounced off the armour. The ones that hit limbs slowed down and even disarmed them. Another three rounds of arrows rained death from above. The effect wasn't as pronounced as the raid group was hoping it would be likely because the Undead apparently don't have their pain senses anymore, meaning they could afford to suffer wounds that would scare off most enemy types.

The horde was gathering more and more. For each one fell, another two would take its place. The amounts of corpses were beginning to pile up. One of the mercenary pikemen could no longer bear the vicious assault of multiple bodies pushing at him. His shield arm went down.

A fatal mistake.

One of the monsters raised its axe and brought it down against the pikeman's shoulder. A fountain of red crystals emerged. Before the pikemen could react, it wrenched out the axe and delivered a final blow to his skull. He died before he fell to the ground, his shield and pike followed. There was finally a crack in the defence.

In return, the Guard's armpit and knee were impaled by two longswords. Kirito yanked his blade out and with precise yet careful swing, decapitated its head. The head flew into its former comrades which put their efforts off balanced. The other swordsman kicked the corpse off his blade. The two repeated this action on the next Guard. The sound of stabbingsincreased rapidly as the forward advance stood their ground.

For all their efforts, the shield wall was clearly being pushed back, unable to hold the horde's assault. The arrows were doing very little due to the fact that the Undead didn't feel pain and had no sense of self preservation. With a shout, Ridwan gave an order for a tactical retreat. Archers and arbalists took careful aimed shots through the gaps and less carefully at above as the front guard backed away as quickly and carefully as possible.

The rest of the raid team had return to the first chamber of the dungeon. The chamber itself was larger, circular, meant to hold many adventurers to raid the dungeon. It was the best place to hold their ground since everyone will be able to attack. The raid team followed the planned formation. Each warrior backed up against the wall and will try to overpower the section of the horde. As one full force they were nigh unstoppable, spread out they had a better chance despite the lack of a line of shields between them.

By the time everyone took position and the forward advance reached the end of the hallway, the shield wall was overrun. Seven more of the pikemen were overrun by the Undead and the rest of them barely escaped. The archers and crossbowmen stayed at the exit, back facing the dungeon doors. What followed was a gruelling mess of unorganised, vicious close quarter combat with the occasional missile shot in. The horde had weak yet large numbers while the raid group was the polar opposite, lesser but stronger. Shield bearers stood in front to protect their fellow members, attacking from behind their board. The two-handers in the group swung their weapon in large but precise arcs.

Benkei was very conservative in his swings. His were small in scope but just as devastating. A Guard with a shortsword came close to a maceman to his right, ready to shank him. The giant shoved the creature with the head of his kanabo, making it bend over. The maceman raised his weapon and delivered a powerful vertical strike on its skull. Ridwan had replaced the bow on his back and was halfswording the monsters. His attacks comprised of quick thrusts, usually to the neck or some other weak spot. Kirito was much deeper in the horde with the rest of the two-handers, voiding enemy attacks gracefully and stabbing, slicing cutting the Undead left and right, throwing in a few kicks and Pommel strikes when needed. His fighting was a sight to behold.

Bit by bit the horde was dying out. Only a dozen plus Guards remained. With a shout, the raid group descended upon them. Kirito moved in close and fast. His sword sliced through a Guard's leg, dismembering it, followed by a powerful forward kick which sent it knocking over the remainder of the monsters. The rest went in and started to stab, sliced, bludgeon the rest of the monsters in what can only described as a ganging. After the last Guard had its head split upon by a large axe, the fighting stopped and a loud silence fell onto the room. The raid leader raised his hand and ordered the group to take a break.

* * *

"How many did we …" The raid leader did a quick head count. 9, 18, 27, 35, 40. 40 members out of the original 58 were still left. The dozen mercenary pikemen had all perished from the horde as well as six other members of the group. Ridwan didn't care much for the mercenaries, they were disposable for a reason and the 24000 Col he had spent on them was well spent as far as he was concerned. From the sea that was the corpses on the floor, he spotted colourful bodies, dark blue ones among the grey/bronze corpses of the Undead. The still living were slumped against the wall, taking respite. Ridwan joined them.

"So uh, they went well, huh?" He turned and saw the grinning face of Kirito. He was clearly tired just like the rest but was feeling rather nonchalant about the fight. His sword grasped loosely in his hand.

"We lost six people." He stated.

"18, including the mercs." Kirito corrected.

"We lost six _members._" He re-stated.

"So? At least not everyone died. I was on a team on the seventh floor boss fight. We had about twenty people. Everyone died!" He emphasised the word 'everyone'. "The raid leader was a total idiot. His idea of tactics consisted of everyone ganging up on the boss and hitting it till it dies." He took out a whetstone from a pocket and started sharpening his blade. It wasn't terribly nicked but the damage was rather noticeable. "No scouting, no planning, blind luck got us to the boss room. What a dumbass."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Good thing I missed it." The archer/swordsman said. "Was on an errand that day." He frowned. "Still, I shouldn't compare myself to that player. The blood of my fellow team mates is on my hand." He raised his hands and stared at them in horror.

"You're being overly dramatic." The younger swordsman pointed out.

"Hush. I'm roleplaying the distraught leader that lost a good portion of his team. The GM might give me roleplay XP. Go with it."

Kirito decided to ignore him on that part. He examined his blade more closely. "Their gear got a bit damaged and they lost some XP. Not a big problem." He blew off the corpse dust from his blade and after finding it satisfactory, stood up and replaced the sword on his belt sheath. "Besides, that means more loot for us. We should get to that. I bet the Boss is just at the end of the hallway."

"We?" he said. "What are you even doing here; you're not part of our group. I thought you went solo."

"I do." He offered Ridwan his hand and pulled the older man up. "I was actually doing some scouting myself for another group of players. They thought they could do some scouting before doing the Boss fight. Looks like you were the first ones here."

"Oh," the raid leader was intrigued, "And what group was this exactly?" He had planned this raid for more than a week; no way was he going to allow some other group get the glory.

"Sorry," Kirito shrugged, "I'm a professional and I don't tell client secrets."

"Aww, not even for an old friend, ol' buddy of mine?"

The mercenary scratched his chin for a moment before saying "Well …. Okay. Why not?"

"Great! Which particular group might this b-"

"That will be 8000 Col." Kirito extended an open hand.

The two swordsmen stared each other for quite a while before Ridwan broke the silence. "… You've been hanging around the Rat for too long."

"She's a bad influence I know."

The raid leader looked around the chamber, noticing the lack of members for a proper raid. "So, sign up for my party? Could use another blade."

"Standard fee, 8000. Do I get the loot?"

"One enchanted item that's left when the rest have chosen their pickings."

"Good enough." They shook on it. The raid leader manipulated his fingers in the air and a display box appeared before the swordsman.

**«RID-1 has invited you to his party. Accept?» **

**«Yes/No» **

He pressed Yes and Ridwan could see his healthbar along with the rest pop in his HUD. Kirito was worth five of his own swordsmen, being a solo player had its advantages. Not that he'd tell him that, wouldn't want to inflate his ego. The raid leader clasped his hands. "Right, looting time."

"I'm on that." The two saw the dark skinned marauder standing among the pile of corpses. He looked like he was posing on some fantasy novel cover. Instead of a scantily dressed damsel in his thick arms, there was an abundance of loot. From bronze weapons to bronze armours to even precious gems. On Benkei's head was a gold helmet with gems embroiled into it (most likely a lucky drop). On his face, a stupid grin.

"Ah, that'll fetch a nice price." Ridwan stood up and hold his hand in a 'gimme' motion. Hesitantly, Benkei gave the leader the crown and the gems. "Keep the bronze stuff. Those things were vendor trash before we even reached the fifth floor." He joined his fellow teammates in scouring for better items. Unfortunately for them it seemed only Benkei got the good stuff. Regardless, even the standard bronze arms and armours were worth something if sold in quantity. The corpses of the mercenary pikemen were of higher grade steel. Their equipment would sell nicely. He could already see the other raid members rummaging through the bodies with practiced ease. Time to get to work.

* * *

After a good fifteen minutes of going through the dead and the undead alike, the raid team now consisting of 40 members walked down the hall to the boss hall. The torches were still lit though they were noticeably dimmer. He wasn't sure if that was accurate as it would be in real life. If there was one thing he didn't like was how dark the dungeons were. It was so oppressive. Walking into a dungeon from the safety of behind a monitor was one thing; doing so in virtual reality was another.

They continued to walk down the hallway. He again had his map again in his left; his right held the torch over his head. The paper map slowly produced black lines as it automatically charted the dungeon. The forty white arrows moved in a clutter. The crosses on the map indicated the members that died. He would have to give those players some sort of compensation, he'd hate to have his reputation as a clearer ruined by a catastrophe such as this one. There were scribbles and circles that he made himself, indicating traps and other dangers, which reminded him. He pulled out a quill (of course a quill) from his belt pouch and wrote near the crosses in large capitals, HORDE CHOKEPOINT.

"You shouldn't be reading in the dark" said the twenty something swordsman, who had the flat of his sword resting on his shoulder, his other hand in his pocket. He had no way of knowing if that was his proper age, his own avatar looked sixty despite he himself being only 26.

"No, I really shouldn't." It was a joke the two shared since meeting each other on the third floor. It became repetitive long ago but the two continued to do so regardless.

"You'd have to wear glasses."

"I wear contacts already." Ridwan snorted. "I bet you wear glasses."

"Nope." He pointed two gloved fingers at his eyes. "My vision is perfect."

"Shouldn't we be concentrating on the path ahead?" the giant's deep voice pulled them out of their banter. "We wouldn't want to be ambushed like that again."

"Ooh!" Kirito jabbed his elbow at the raid leader. "I think he's criticising you, Leader-sama."

"No no, he's right." Maybe Benkei was older than he assumed he was. "We need to be more careful."

"And you!" A thick finger pointed at Kirito. "You shouldn't be so calm. Be alert."

"Yes yes. Don't worry about it." The scout assured him. "I'm always alert."

"That's how you and the other scouts triggered the horde right? By being alert?"

"Ooh!" Ridwan jabbed his elbow at the scout.

"Shut up." He held his sword with both hands and focused his eyes forward.

* * *

The forward advance was now being held by what were previously the middle group and the remaining player pikemen. Their defence wasn't as solid as it was before because the loss of the shields. None of the ranged attackers perished so they still had ranged support. Regardless of the losses, he was confident that they could still take on whatever the dungeon through at them, as long as it wasn't another horde.

"Is that a lift?" one of the few female players pointed it out with her shortsword.

They reached the end of the hall and what was there surprised the team. In a large circular room was a round platform slightly smaller in diameter. In the middle, a lever attached to a box of sorts. Aligning the walls were four large long chains that reached all the way to the top, the 'cables' that hold up and carried the contraption.

This was very strange. None of them had encountered such a thing before. Usually, when it was time to reach the next level, they either walked out of a large set of doors, a cave opening and whatnot. The boss room was usually located only a short distance from the actual new floor itself. Ridwan wasn't sure himself.

"It could be a trap." A shield and mace wielding warrior said. Knowing video games, it was of a distinct possibly.

"Or maybe that horde was the boss?" A theory coming from a lightly armoured player wielding a large battle axe. "And floor 11 is just above us?"

One of the few remaining spearmen said, "No, that can't be right. The boss would have a health bar and that horde had none."

"Or were the individual healthbars count as one big healthbar? They could have been minions." A longswordsman in the front added.

A range of theories and opinions generated from the raid group. The most prominent was the belief it was a trap of sorts. Maybe the lift was to collapse downwards when the lever was pulled. Maybe something from above would drop down and attack them. Regardless, there was no other way to go. The raid team boarded the lift and readied themselves, fearful for another ambush. Eyes focused skyward.

"Pull the lever, Kronk!" The old man ordered Benkei. No one chuckled at his joke. He frowned and reminded himself they were all Japanese players.

Grinding gears moaned loudly, the small size of the chamber amplified the sound further hurting the players with the higher Perception skill, especially the subclass of Hearing. Dust clouds erupted from the exposed gears and with the sound of screeching stone, the lift soon ascended. There were no chains of sorts to pull the lift up and Ridwan hypothesised that it must be pushed upward from below, perhaps with a piston of sorts.

The lift made its way upwards and upwards. Eyes were still looking above and around. Torches were still held, basking the chamber with an orange glow. If the fire went out because there was no oxygen left, he was going to leave a very nasty comment on why the game shouldn't be too realistic.

Fortunately for the group, there wasn't much need for patience. The lift finally made its way up top to what they assumed was the boss room.

The raid group was greeted by the sight of the bright orange sky. Though it was almost dusk, the light was a bit too much for some of the players. There was the sound of wind blowing and they could almost feel it on the skin.

Kirito spoke out, "Looks like that horde was the boss after all." A satisfied smile on his face. Ridwan could just breathe in the fresh air.

Suddenly, the lift stopped.

The sound of grinding stone.

They were falling.

Shouting. Cursing.

Damnit.

The ancient lift gave way and starting toppling over. Dust began to gather as the floor chiselled the stone in a long continuous grind. The entire raid group had reached for lever box in the middle; the few ones that didn't threw themselves to the ground and hoped they didn't detach themselves from floor.

Ridwan was one of the ones that didn't grab onto the lever. He hoped that his bulk and chainmail would be heavy enough to do the job. Kirito had slammed his blade into the floor. It cut into the stone floor about one third of the way, owing the amazing feat of power to his high Strength attribute. The act would badly damage his weapon and lessened its durability but that wasn't the focus right now. The others followed suit and slammed their blades, axes and hammers into the stone. Benkei slammed his club into the stone easily, having one of the highest Strength attribute in the group. Ridwan feebly pulled out his dagger and did the same.

Two archers, one male and one female, were flying off. The archers weren't able to cut their blades in deep enough. Both shouted for help and a couple of macemen grabbed onto the male archer while a two-handed greatsword user grabbed onto the female. Their efforts were for naught as the one of the chains snapped and viciously whipped into the two archers. Both died instantly from the hit.

Before they could even let go of their comrades' dead bodies, they reached the end of their descent. The lift slammed down so hard from the force that it shattered into hundreds of pieces; the debris flew everywhere as well as the rest of the raid group. Ridwan felt the back of his head slammed into something hard and his world faded to black.

* * *

He awoke when he felt water splashing his face. The raid leader sat up startled and sees one of the axemen, Kensei he thinks, standing over him with a flask of water in hand.

"Oh, thank goodness. We thought we lost you there, Leader-sama!" he said, voice full of relief. The axeman grabbed his leader's arm and pulled him up.

"Everyone okay?" He looked around his surroundings. It seems they were in a very large hall of sorts. He spotted three torches lying on the floor. Some of the conscious members were going about reviving the ones that were still out cold.

"We lost two archers, one crossbowman, two spearmen and one longswordsman." Kensei answered grimly. "The fall was too much for them." That put their party at 35 men. He already lost almost half of the raid group. They must have been in pretty bad shape to die from the fall. Even his own health bar was still in the yellow zone.

"Orders?" Kensei asked. Ridwan then instructed him to round the surviving raiders and light up more torches. This place was even darker than the floor above; he didn't think that was possible. He walked up to a member scavenging through their fallen comrades bodies. He was pulling off a ring of a finger; the rest of the body had been buried under a sizable boulder. Ridwan then proceeded to slap him on the head.

"Hey!" Kirito shouted, annoyed. The hall must be very big to echo his 'hey' four times before dissipating.

"Go help with the torches. Or wake up the others. I'll deal with the bodies." Kirito gave a hearty 'hai!' before leaving. Or he would have had he not be pulled back by his collar. The raid leader made the same motion that was directed at Benkei before. Kirito placed the ring from before into the open palm.

"The rest of it." Kirito moved his fingers to his trade screen and gave the leader the rest of the loot, a large portion of the deceased's belongings. It seemed he got everyone's gear. The swordsman was a quick looter. Greedy fellow. The raid team set out to gather and readied themselves for the second time that day.

* * *

They had their ten minute rest and prepared themselves. Blades were sharpened, dented armour was hammered out and new arrows and bolts were made. Fourteen shield users, five of them swordsmen and the nine spearmen. Fifteen of them were a mix two handers using longswords, warhammers, pikemen and one of them was using a club. The ten were left were six archers and four arbalists. Their armour wasn't in the best shape, their weapons needed better professional repairs and they were all still tired. Ridwan had half expected for them to log out of sheer frustration. The ninth floor dungeon was like a walk in the park compared to this.

But they hadn't. Despite the horrors they face, they put on brave faces. If not for him then for themselves and their fallen comrades. Ridwan was no military man but the sense of pride he felt in his chest was something he assumed many squad leaders felt. He made sure to give a bigger cut of the loot for them, they deserved it.

Like before, scouts were sent to recon the area. Kirito and two crossbowmen volunteered for the task. It didn't take them long at all; they had stumbled upon a large set of doors. They moved forward and arrived at said doors. Standing at 10 feet in height, 8 feet in diameter, the doors were the traditional signs of a boss fight. This was it. Two weeks' worth of scouting, mapping, gathering resources, training, studying tactics had boiled down to this. If they failed, they could do it again but it would be a tedious thing. Not to mention 45 000 Col worth of supplies going down the drain. No, it ends today.

"Open it." The raid leader commanded, and two of best armoured players of the group pushed the doors.

What greeted them was a large room, much like the hall before. The main difference was that it was lighted by some sort but in the middle stood an altar about two feet of the ground, on the top, a huge sarcophagus.

They took their position. The remaining ranged attackers, including Ridwan himself, drew out their weapons aimed at the large and wide sarcophagus. Shield bearers stood in front of them. Kensei stood above the coffin; axe in hand, one of two handed battle axe wielders along with Benkei had their hands on the lid. Kirito stood beside Kensei, swordpoint aimed at the coffin. They all pushed the lid open; a loud thump sound was made when it hit the floor.

"Well … anything?" the raid leader called out.

They peeked into the coffin.

His question was answered when a blur sent Kensei flying against a wall. The raiders that surrounded it proceeded to respond by stabbing and hacking the creature inside.

Another blur sent the two-handers into another wall. The third blur, which was now identified as an arm, grabbed Kirito by the throat and left him dangling a good five feet in the air as the swordsman tried free himself from its grasp. The figure of the coffin rose from its resting place.

It stood an imposing eight feet in height; its body was that of its guard they had fought much earlier. The entire torso was covered in bronze armour but of finer quality for the armour looked brand new despite being in a coffin for no one knows how many years. Its greaves and armguards were of similar quality, the joints were covered in linen, three layers estimated. It carried no weapon but it needed none. On its head an elaborate hedjet, its face was covered in a golden mask of that ancient Egyptians, pronounced lips, lifeless eyes and a dead expression.

The name «The Traitor Captain» appeared on everyone's HUD along with eight health bars.

It roared a mighty roar that shook the entire room.

The boss battle had finally begun.

The Boss raised Kirito and was prepared to throw him at the ranged attackers. Before it could accomplish do so, the swordsman pulled out a steel dagger from inside his coat using his free hand and stabbed away at the wrist. It was momentarily distracted as the Boss stared dangerous glowing purple orbs at him.

Taking advantage of Kirito's distraction, Ridwan gave the order to advance and the shield bearers obeyed. Swords and spears struck true as they penetrated through the linen. The two-handers that smashed against the wall had now recovered and were now striking at the Captain's knees. The battle axe easily chopped through the limb and the shattering strikes from Benkei's kanabo made cracks into the knee guard. By the time the left leg snapped off, they had already drained one half of the Boss's health bars with the added benefit of bringing the Boss down to one knee.

By the time that happened, the swordsman had done enough damage to the Boss' hand that it let go the swordsman. He fell, performed a specific roll that would neglect the fall damage and came out unscathed. With longsword in his right and dagger in his left, his black longcoat flapping coupled with his pose, Kirito looked like incredibly heroic. The swordsman was clearly showing off. _Cocky bastard._

The Captain was crouching on its right good knee but it was still a threat. It lurched forward and threw a straight punch as the shield bearers. They absorbed the impact and marched forward to repeat the process. The two handers proceeded to perform the same tactic again. Before getting a hit in, the Captain stabilised itself on it's a good knee and kicked both of them sending them against the wall for the second time. The attack made Kirito move to attack what was left of its left knee and he started hacking away at it.

Ridwan and the ranged attackers manoeuvred themselves into more strategic positions and began taking aimed shots at the limbs. Arrows and bolts easily pierced the linen and the rigid movement it was making was definitely a good sign. The rest of the two handers started to surround the Captains side and started attacking. The barrage of missiles, the attacks of the forward advance and the hacking being done from behind and sides was able to greatly decrease its health from eight to three in a minute.

Then it got worse.

The Boss, using its good hand and leg, launched itself ten feet into the air and brought his body down, back first, on the forward advance. Its entire back immediately killed five of the shield bearers. Before the remaining three could recover from their dizziness, with one sweep of its arm swept away the last three into a pile in the corner of the room. The Captain righted itself onto its belly. One of the braver two handers stepped forward and swung his warhammer into the Captain's face. The mask cracked in pieces.

He was rewarded with the decayed face of the Captain. Its face was ashen and grey, in relatively good condition. The skin was smooth and well preserved. The Captain had a strong jaw and pointed nose and may have been handsome in a past of life. Yet it was missing its lips, eyebrows and eyelids. What stared back at the player were eyes of purple, eyes of pure madness. Its stare glued the two-hander in his place.

The Boss then proceeded to bite the two-hander's torso off.

Sound of crunching bone and flesh with the fountain of blood of such brutality made most of the raid group frozen in place. The two-hander was able to crack its mask, revealing another weak spot for them to take advantage off only to be rewarded by a gruesome death. With a whip of its head, the Captain spat the deceased's body at a halberdier, knocking him down. It let out another roar, this one more intense than the last.

"Come on! We can finish this!" the voice of Ridwan snapped the rest out of shock. "Shoot the face! Shoot the face!" he half shouted, half ordered, fear clearly making him curse. His bowstring twanged quickly as he unloaded arrow after arrow into the face. The marksmen followed his example and one arrow (he didn't know whose) pierced one of its eye, making it snap its head upward.

The raiders now started attacking with much more fervour, fear mix with the will to kill the abomination in front of them. The Captain started to move about swiping at the two-handers. It was able to knock down a greatsword wielder by swiping his legs. A raised fist that would have ended his life had Benkei not come by. Muscular arms held the much larger arm in place; his kanabo lay on the floor some feet away. A pikeman decided to rush in and with a swipe of his halberd cut the joints.

The Captain roared, teeth barring and swiped away the two two-handers. It turned his head to whatever unfortunate target and set his eyes on the group of ranged attackers, specifically the one in the middle. Which was –_oh shi-_

It scrambled and opened its jaw, ready to devour the raid leader. Ridwan could at least down it with a critical hit if he shot the monster in the eye. His hand reached for his quiver and _– damnit! _He could have sworn he had more arrows and wondered if the GM made his last couple of arrows disappear for dramatic effect. Or he wasn't counting properly, that was very much a definite possibility. Damn the fact there was no ammo counter this low level.

He barely dodged the incoming set of teeth that was so close to chomping him in half. Ridwan threw himself to the left, rolled and in that one swift motion pulled his sword to engage the Captain in close combat. Putting one foot forward, he swung his blade horizontally and was able to chip off what was left of its nose. This didn't stop the advance but the barrage of strikes from the rest of the group did.

"One more health bar! We can do this!"

Hammers, axes, spears, polearms and swords of all varieties went into the Boss' body. The raid group was voiding to the best of their ability as the Captain was just swinging his remaining arm madly. His devastating donkey kick was rendered useless when Kensei had able to chop it off and the leg lie there useless, leaving the mouth and the arm the only threats left.

With only a sliver of life in it, the Captain directed what's left of its might on an unfortunate spearman that was closest to it. It raised its arm for one final strike only to be stopped by said spearman when he drove his spear through its forearm. Kensei joined in and hacked its shoulder and as the _coup de grace, _Benkei slammed his kanabo right into its face. The Boss gave one final wheeze before collapsing face first into the ground as the last of his health bar disappeared. A banner popped up into everyone's view:

[CONGRATULATIONS!]

* * *

"Kanpai!"

A round of cheers, glasses clinking against one another and the satisfaction of a job well done filled the inn. The raid team was at the 11th floor main town, Taft, resting at one of the more expensive inns in town simply named Premier. It was spacious; the many candle lights made it resemble an Italian restaurant and had food that Ridwan would only have on special occasions. They had huddled around the cluster of tables and were congratulating and patting themselves on the back. Phrases like 'challenging fight', 'good job' and 'I wetted myself' were thrown around.

It had been about six in the evening they had made out of the dungeon. A secret passage in the Boss room revealed another a room loaded with half a dozen treasure chests and also a lift, this one actually taking them to the 11th floor, in which they emerged from a cave on a hill overlooking the town. Ridwan wondered if they actually had to fight the boss had they brought proper gear to scale the wall. An optional floor boss fight? That was an interesting design choice.

A pat (or more accurately a smack) on his back brought him out of his ponderings. Kensei was holding a large mug of what he assumed was root beer (the game so far had not allowed any alcoholic drinks to be served, likely for the minors' sake) and a stupid grin on his face. The axeman clinked his mug to his. "A cheer for our glorious raid leader!" he shouted. The raid team raised their mugs and cheered again.

Said center of attention scratched his head, flustered. "It wasn't that great. We did lose a lot of people."

"Well, more loot for us!" A female voice called out, joined with agreements from the others. This particular party were a greedy bunch, he thought.

Excusing himself from the celebrations, Ridwan took his drink outside. He was greeted with the setting sun. He could just make it out from behind some clouds. The orange sky bathed the town in a matching orange glow. The street lights had yet been lit and there were spots of darkness where red bricked buildings cast their shadows. NPCs closed their shops and walked home to prepare themselves for the night. It was a comforting, beautiful sight. He could just stand there forever, admiring the beauty of it.

"You going to stand there and admire the beauty or sit down?" a voice besides him said. Kirito was sitting on a green bench, sword and a half empty mug in his lap. The raid leader complied and sat down.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Kirito continued. "The shine, the warmth, the lighting, it's all so real." He took a sip. "This drink, the wind, everything." He had a longing look in his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah it is." A comfortable silence descended on the two as they admired the world before them.

Kirito broke silence. "Sometimes, I feel more alive here than in the real world." Ridwan made a mental note of that statement. That can't be healthy. He tries to steer the conversation in another direction.

"You still have a week before Beta ends. You can enjoy yourself before that happens. Two months of not being in Aincrad, that sounds terrible." Kirito sighed. He dreads the day the Beta will end.

"Are you leaving tonight?"

"My flight leaves next morning. I still have some reports to do before that. I'll return to the States and tell my amazing tales of adventure and excitement to friends, family and colleagues." He chuckled. "Journalism is hard work, you know? You'd think it's all fun and joy writing about video games all the time. No, that isn't the case."

Before Kirito could prod the journalist about more questions about the gaming industry, they saw looming figures approaching them. A group of people of familiar faces led by Benkei just arrived from the Teleport Gate in the middle of the town. The players who died during the raid had come for celebrations and their fair share of payment. Before Benkei could greet them, someone else had beaten him to the punch.

"Hello, Kii-bou. Ree-don." The greeter was a woman in her 20s, with curly auburn hair, an oval face, mischievous eyes and whiskers on her cheeks. She wore a large cloak that covered most of her body and leather boots.

"Argo." The two replied simultaneously.

"News travels fast." Kirito commented. She put her hands on her hip.

"Well, I was by Black Iron Castle and saw a bunch of players with battered gear on them. Your party took quite the beating, didn't they Ree-don?" Ridwan grimaced at the nickname given to him.

"Worry not, I was there to lend a hand and single-handedly saved their hides." Kirito answered. Ridwan decided to ignore that remark. The other raid members said nasty things to him before heading in.

"Where are the others?" the raid leader asked. "I sent them PMs already."

"They're either busy with something else or logged out."

Argo added, "Well, it is late. It's probably dinner time for most of them." Raising an eyebrow, Ridwan looked at the upper left of his HUD.

"Huh, it's 6.30 pm already. Time flies when you're facing immediate death, right?"

"Yea- wait, it's past six?!" The swordsman stood up and spilled his things off his lap. "Oh no!" Before he could ask, Kirito explained himself. "I was supposed to take my sister out shopping! She's going to kill me!"

"Maybe you should log out then." Benkei smiled and crossed his arms. "Angry sisters are hazardous to your health."

"Aww, Kii-bou. You sound so girly when you're scared." The swordsman did look rather pale and his voice was rather high pitched. The lone player who scouted dungeons by himself, the player who scored five Last Attacks on five bosses, the wandering mercenary that took on the more difficult Quests was scared out of his wits of his little sister. Ridwan could understand that. Women are frightening creatures.

"Yes, you should log out and I'll stay here, and enjoy celebrations with my brothers and sisters in arms."

The raid leader manipulated his fingers and gave the mercenary his Col which Kirito quickly accepted. "See you in a couple of months!" He said/shouted as he disappeared in a flash of light. He was so scared he forgot his loot.

"Oh, Kirito-san forgot his share of the loot." Benkei said.

"Eh, I'll throw in another 500. That's good enough for him." With a flick, he sent the Col to the Rat and she accepted it. "Hand that to him later, would you?"

"Sure thing." Argo took the Col. "Can I join the party? Of course I can." She brushed past the two and entered the restaurant before the raiders could say anything. Most likely to gather as much information as she can. The Rat had ways to make people talk, mostly through smiles and passive-aggressive negotiations. The things people let slip when their guard is down. He could see more people coming through the Teleport Gate, some of them familiar.

"Well my barbarian friend, let's get inside and divide the spoils." Ridwan said, wanting to spend his last day here in Aincrad in the most memorable way possible.

* * *

Seventeen year old Kirigaya Kazuto woke up to reality. His room was dark as the only light source was the sun rays from his window and lights from his computer rig. He took off the Nerve Gear and reached for the glass of water on his end table. It was 6.35 pm and the last time he logged out was about 1.00 pm. He was logged in at for five hours and a half. It was advised to take breaks once every two hours but once again, he forgot to do so.

He chugged the water greedily, feeling his thirst quenched by the soothing water. It felt much better than whatever drink he just took. Kazuto replaced the glass on the end table and walked across the room to flick on the lights.

*click!*

"Onii-chan."

"Aah!"

In a corner of the room was Suguha, sitting on his computer chair. She was wearing her more flashy clothes, consisting of a bright orange jacket, red scarf, white skirt with matching beret. She was a pretty young girl, with a round face, big brown eyes and hime haircut. The only thing that seemed out of place was the shinai on her la- _oh no._

"Good evening, Kazuto-neechan. How was Aincrad?" She smiled a cute smile. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

"Er, good evening, Sugu! It was rather... good?" Kazuto smiled, trying to shuffle himself to the door as discreetly as possible. Suguha put the tip of her sword on the floor, hands and chin on the hilt.

"I am _so _glad that you had fun." She continued in that horrifying high pitch voice. "You know, I recall of going to have some fun too. Do a little shopping, have some food, just being out the house and stuff. I was going to go with a certain _someone _but it turns out that someone was very _busy." _Her hands tightened on her wooden sword.

"Oh well … uh…" He couldn't think of any excuse for that.

"And I do hope that someone would make that up to me. There's this nice handbag I've had my eyes on for a while." A devious glint in her eyes. "Do you think that someone should make up to me?"

"Uh yes, I- er that person should make up to you by buying you that handbag! Yes, that's the only way to offer his sincere apologies." The kendo champion stood up and put her face very close to Kazuto's.

"Just a handbag?" Her eyes were trying to devour his soul.

"Anything you want! Don't hurt me please, beloved merciful sister!"

After what seemed an eternity, though it only was five seconds, the younger Kirigaya took a step back and relaxed the grip on her sword. "Oh, onii-chan! How kind of you!"

"Yes, that's me. Loving attentive brother!" She hummed in agreement.

"Go wash yourself and get ready. Dinner will be ready in ten." Suguha said, exited and closed the bedroom door behind her. Kazuto let out a breath that he didn't realise he was holding and fell into his recliner. He waited a while for his heartbeat to slow down and cupped his face with his hands. Dodged a bullet right there.

"KIRIGAYA KAZUTO WHY HAVEN'T YOU CLEANED THE STORE ROOM LIKE YOU PROMISED?!" Came the earth shattering voice of his mother.

For the third time that day, Kazuto felt like he was facing death.

* * *

**Hello dear reader! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Aincrad Retold. A retelling of SAO with new characters, new storylines and a bunch of other original content. You may notice some things that deviate from canon. Those are all parts that have been consciously changed such as the NPC mercenaries and ranged weapons.**

**I hope none of you found Kirito too OOC. For comparison's sake, he's more akin to his counterpart in the SAO Progressive Manga, at least that's what I was aiming for. Suguha is admittedly OOC because you know, being angry and all. Little sisters are scary things.**

**The atmosphere that was being aimed for was a traditional D&D campaign with lots of troops, with a very evil GM in mind.**

**If you think that there are some things that you think I should be concerned with, do address your concerns in a review or PM. Do leave some constructive criticism. I can pump out new chapters faster with more encouragement. I write a chapter, you leave a review. ****_Quid pro quo._**


	2. Link Start

**I don't own Sword Art Online.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Link Start

It had been a week since the beta ended on the 30th July. Kazuto had spent the last week in Aincrad doing what he always did, grinding and exploring by his lonesome. Not only that, he also tried his best to find the boss room. There was a large amount of XP awarded to the first people to discover it. He eventually did find it, a large impressive castle guarded by half humanoid snake people. The outer walls were manned by archers and he had no way of infiltrating the castle in the beginning. By the time he prepared himself for a more thorough scouting, the beta had ended and the game ejected every player from the world rather forcibly.

The swordsman had bought enough supplies and equipment to last him a good few days. Halfway through his expedition, a little girl with blonde hair and white dress appeared right in front of him and said in a childish voice, "Thank you for playing the beta test for Sword Art Online. You will be rewarded for your participation when the game hit store shelves on the 15th of September 2022. Have a nice day!" Before his mind could register what she just said, the little girl then proceeded to impale him with a freak huge sword that came out of nowhere, bringing him to the real world.

Visiting the forums later on, he discovered a multitude of similar random encounters the way the game ejected people. One player had his sandwich announcing the end of the Beta and exploding in his face. Another player who was a weaponsmith had just finished his new ax, which came to life and hacked its creator's head off. In dungeons, the mobs would turn into mini bosses and one unfortunate player who was napping had a very heavy talking apple fall on his head. Many others were swallowed by random treasure chests materialising in front of them. It was all very hilarious and utterly frightening.

"_I was inspecting the EMPTY barrel of my musket when the announcement was made. Then I think you all know what ****ing happened!" _was a post written by a player named LocoKoko. They had the Specialist tag under their profile name.

"_Kayaba Akihiko is one sadistic Game Master." _The_True_Musashi commented.

"_Lol! Wish I was there when Beta ended!" _ One WiseOldWarrior posted. Kazuto knew exactly who he was. The Journalist tag under his profile name confirmed his suspicions.

"_You'd shoot an arrow which would then boomerang back into your eye." _He replied, using the simple name of Kirito on the forums.

MadeOfColdIce added, _"A deer I was hunting announced the beta had ended. I shot my crossbow at it, missed, hit a tree and the bolt ricochet back into my face. Scariest deer ever."_

Kazuto decided to add his own encounter into the mix. WiseOldWarrior replied, _"Hahaha! Bet that happens that to you all the time right Kirito? Little girls with swords hitting you? ;P"_

"_Shut up DumbOldFart." _Kazuto typed in good humour.

"_Guys guys you gotta watch my Let's Play of SAO (Beta Version)! Link's in my signature!" _Someone posted. An admin immediately came in to scold him. Before the teenager could continue to engage in idle chatter, his mother called him. Something about cleaning the pool. With a sigh, he switched off his computer and got to work.

There was very little that had happened in the week following the end of beta. He had graduated high school with above average grades. Mostly Bs and a few As. It wasn't the perfect straight As his parents wanted. Then again, most parents had wanted their children to get excellent results and like always, most children weren't able to achieve those results. The only thing that stood out was his Computer Science and English subjects, both A+. Kazuto had decided to apply for Tokyo University under the course of software engineering. Both of his parents approved of his decision. With good fortune, he would be able to go to university sometime early next year.

Rid-1, the American beta tester, had also approved of his choice. "Going to make a game that will trump SAO, eh?" he teased once, on the 5th floor. Kazuto as Kirito mostly kept to himself but when he found out the older man had connections even to Thinker, the head of MMO Today, and he had connections to other studios in Japan, well, his inner fanboy erupted. Asking countless questions and letting a lot of personal information out, more than he would have liked. In the middle of battle no less. His future seemed bright that day.

And then both players were sent off a cliff as a large rhino type monster rammed into them.

Good times.

Kazuto snapped out of his daydream and focused again on his task at hand. The pool was manmade but it looked natural. Large smooth stones covered the outer rim of the pool, on the other side was a lantern carved out of the same stone. It even had a miniature waterfall and colourful koi fish swimming merrily in it. It was traditional and very Japanese; something that could be said about the surrounding Kirigaya compound. With trimmed green grass, a house and a gym with traditional designs mixed with modern architecture, orange leafed trees and said pond, it looked like something tourism ads would print in their brochures. He was rather fortunate to be born in a slightly upper middle class family; he did enjoy the large space the compound provided.

That also meant lots of cleaning to be done. There were leaves everywhere and raking is one of the least liked chores of the bunch. Ever since he graduated, his time was spent either in Aincrad or doing chores. His mother took advantage of his free time to the fullest. He usually did all his chores in bulk early morning, just so he could have more time to immerse himself in virtual reality. These days however were different since he slept in a lot of the time, now working mid-morning or early afternoon.

With some difficulty, he had managed to snag out a thick branch without breaking the leaves off and placed in the large plastic bags that held all the leaves. That was pretty skilful of him, he thought. He should get bonus XP for that. Oh look, he had enough to level up. He hummed SAO's level up tune, a melodious mixture of trumpets and bells.

"Daydreaming while working, oniichan?" The voice of Suguha behind him brought him out his thoughts. She was in her school uniform, with her shinai on her back. Is it the afternnon already? It was rather dim, mostly due to the thick clouds hanging above. "Kaa-san complained that only if you worked as hard as you played your games."

"I think I pull my weight well enough in this house." He defended. "I'm doing all these chores you know."

"Well that's because you've already finished school while I haven't. Makes sense." She said. "Besides, you're better off doing some work rather than wasting time playing virtual games."

"First of all, the term is _video _games. Second, games are not a waste of time." He stated firmly. Why does no one in his family understand the tremendous values of gaming?

"There's a difference between pushing buttons to swing a sword compared to swinging an actual sword." She gestured to the weapon on her back. "Maybe you should start practicing kendo again, oniichan." There was a hint of sadness in that suggestion.

She had a point. Kazuto had wondered about his abandonment of kendo. He was young, ten years old at the time. He had walked up to his grandfather and flat out told him that he didn't want to practice kendo anymore. His grandfather agreed, on the rule that he performed one clean strike on him and Kazuto couldn't wear any armour. He thought it would be easy, it wasn't. His grandfather was a master in the art; he himself had only practiced for two years. Kazuto was sure he would have more broken bones that day had Suguha had not come in and said she would practice hard enough for both of them. He was forever thankful of her for that, and even felt guilty for doing so.

In Aincrad, he had experienced true swordsmanship. The rules and laws of safety did not apply in that world, unrestricted by the laws of modern society. He duelled other players to the death, cut down monsters that existed only on screen and pages, and felt the thrill of the blade that no film or other game could ever hope to portray. Now, in the real world, he could no longer achieve that level of fiero. Playing on keyboard and monitor just wasn't the same as before. But maybe, practicing kendo again he could achieve that feel.

"You know what, Sugu?" He turned away from his work and at her. "I'll think I'll spar with you." Suguha had a look of surprise on her before her smile reached her eyes.

"After work. I'm bored like crazy here."

* * *

Yuuki Asuna was lying in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, bored out of her skull.

The college student had recently finished her first semester in business management. Much like in high school, she did incredibly well. Religiously studying and researching on relevant subjects and taking it above and beyond. It was however much easier. In high school she had ten subjects to juggle with, in college seven but they were all interrelated. What that amounted to was smooth sailing and a lot of free time between classes.

Free time used to study a lot. Even her time spent at home was spent reading more advanced books on her future subjects. This habit annoyed her friends and peers somewhat. Anytime they invited her to go out to town either shopping or watch films or whatever leisure activities, she would turn them down and coop herself in her room studying. This of course pleased her mother greatly; she had high hopes of Asuna following in her father's and brother's footsteps as businessmen.

Now with her three months of free time, she spent her first few days either watching TV or surfing the Internet. None of them were particularly productive and that irked her. She hated doing nothing.

"I wish I had something to do." She said to no one in particular.

"Oh no! The bookworm is bored! Perhaps she will read off the back of shampoo bottles to sate her thirst for knowledge!" Asuna raised her head.

Leaning by the door frame was he older brother, Kouichirou. He was a tall man, standing almost six feet in height similar to their father. He had his mother's black hair, his father's intelligent eyes and a mischievous smile on him. Kouichirou was dressed in his fencer uniform, white nylon jacket and breeches, foil in hand. The only thing missing from his set was his mask.

"Oniisan! When did you get back?" She sat up straight.

"Oh, about eleven last night. You slept early. Tough semester?"

"Hardly. Nothing I couldn't handle." Her brother walked up to her and ruffled her hair. She hated it when he did that.

"Atta girl." Asuna swiped his hands away.

"How was Hong Kong? Did the deal go well?"

"Straight to business all the time, huh? No 'how was the city like' or 'did you visit any interesting places'. Or 'are there any cute guys around?'" He scratched his chin. "Don't know about the last one but the women there are classy ladies."

"I don't need any silly college drama in the way of my studies."

"Little Miss Perfect as always. Well, if you were wondering, it went very well. Argus has agreed to allow RECTO to be their main server provider. They're going to transfer their network for their products for us. And for a reasonably low price as well. Almost half less than we expected."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Why do you think that is?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I assume they realised that their own servers weren't up to par and were just looking for someone with the serve capacity. Maybe not enough space as well. Mind you they still have most of their stuff on their own servers; we're just carrying the extra, about 40% of the final product. They've only two months before their game launches. You know about it right?"

Of course she knew about it, her brother never shuts up about it. Sword Art Online, the biggest thing since the invention of the wheel (Kouichirou's words). Everyone at campus talked about it. Companies of all kinds had shown remarkable interest in it, ranging from computer giants to militaries. Virtual reality not as in screens strap to your eyeballs but actually diving into the human conscious using the revolutionary Full Dive technology. Asuna didn't care much about some virtual game but even she saw the potential of it.

"That was a good deal, oniisan. Congratulations."

"Damn straight it was a good deal. Five days of aggressive negotiations is of little sacrifice considering what we achieved. And you know what the best part is?"

"That new car Father promised?" She couldn't quite keep the envy out of her tone.

"A car is nothing." He pointed a thumb at himself. "You're looking at the proud owner of a Nerve Gear helmet!"

"Oh yes, those helmets. I better research that." She knew quite little about it despite all the talk about it. "I need to know what's going on if I'm going to be head CEO of RECTO Progress."

Kouichirou was flabbergasted. "Excuse me?"

"I mean when I become a member of the board." She winked. "And not at all try to get you out of the way."

"I'll be sure to remember that when I try some of your cookies. Speaking of which, I could use some. Fencing is tiring work."

Asuna looked downward, unsure. "I don't know, been a long while since I've cooked anything." Her studying left little time for any luxurious meals. She survived mostly on small but filling meals purchased from around campus shops and cafes. Her hobby was cast aside for that.

"Then join me in fencing. Dummies don't make the best opponents."

"I'm not interested in your sword play, Kouichirou-neesan. It's a childish game."

"Fencing is a gentleman's sport!" He stated for the three hundredth time. "And besides, you're bored. Might as well do something."

The younger Yuuki pondered for a moment before saying, "Oh okay, only because I have nothing to do."

"That's why you're my favourite sister."

"I'm your only sister." She smiled, sure that other people have used the same joke.

"Okay then, see you in a while. Thanks a bunch." He turned and left the room while she prepared herself before going down to the kitchen.

Kouichirou poked his face into the doorway, smiling. "Make my cookies quickly, slave chef!"

Asuna's reply was a pillow to his face.

* * *

"Argh!"

"Onii-chan I'm sorry are you okay?" the soon-to-be Kendo champion asked in a worried tone.

Kazuto rubbed his the front of his head in a futile effort to relieve the pain, since he was wearing gloves and helmet. He brushed her away. "No no, I'm fine."

"_Wow, I'm so slow in the real world."_ In SAO, he was fast, strong and agile. A few points in Agility, Strength and Dexterity were all that was needed to become more powerful than in real life. He was an excellent player, he knew he was. Getting achievements and frequently being in the top 10 on the leaderboards. Always on the front lines, scouting dungeons and going to locations where most players don't even dare to. It was he who was first to explore the edges of the fist floor, slain the first wyvern in the game and the only few who kept his deaths to a single digit.

That was Kirito, this was Kazuto and Kazuto was being handed his butt to him by his little sister. It was embarrassing though he didn't show it.

"Guess I'm a bit rusty."

"Maybe you'll do better with two shinai?" she suggested. Suguha walked to the weapon rack and threw her brother another shinai.

Kazuto deftly caught the bamboo weapon much to his surprise. He tested the shinai in his left hand, an old familiar weight. He recalled being rather efficient with them, being the very few who dual wielded shinai to an efficient degree. He didn't even know why he was so good at it though it was suggested by his father that he was born ambidextrous. His grandfather said he had very good reaction time, even claiming that he would be better in dual wielding than he was. He swung both weapons around getting use to them. A slash with the right, a thrust with the left before stacking the two in a cross pattern for blocking.

It felt right, it felt natural.

"Up for another round?" A challenging tone in her question.

"Definitely."

They bowed and engaged each other. Suguha's strikes were fast and powerful. Kazuto's was slower but more frequent. Every time she thought she would strike he would parry with his offhand shinai. His strikes couldn't get through her strong blocks. They had only sparred for more than a minute during the match but neither could get the better of the other, a stark difference where Suguha easily defeated him in the first few rounds.

The older of the two readjusted the hilt of the right shinai to go in for a thrust. Suguha took a step back and with a mighty swing hit the bamboo blade, throwing it to the other side of the room. She raised her sword with both hands and prepared to deliver a vertical strike on his skull. _This is it!_

"_Men!"_ they both shouted.

Kazuto felt a sharp pain on his crown. Suguha felt something hit her face. Brother and sister stumbled backward recoiling in pain, clutching their heads in pain.

"Ow ow ow, what happened?" Suguha asked.

"Ouch … I think we hit each other at the same time." Her brother answered, rubbing his head for the second time that day. Suguha saw he still had his shinai in his left. He must have halfsworded his shinai to be able to strike from below.

"I think we can call this a draw. Congratulations, oniichan."

"Ugh, thanks. But I won't be satisfied with a draw. I demand a rematch!" He retrieved his other shinai and got into position.

"Oh good, I thought I was just going to spend the whole day beating you." She grinned behind her mask.

"You will take back those words for I will regain the honour of the Kirigaya clan!"

"We're in the same family, niichan." She rolled her eyes. "I swear, you play too much stupid virtual games."

"It's called _video games_! You insult my honour as a gamer as well?! Prepare to die! Hyaaa!"

They lost count of matches after twenty, by then it had already been past seven. Brother and sister were tired, sore and sweaty. Despite that, it was a clear thing that Suguha won more, he didn't mind and both were immensely glad. Suguha for having her distant brother spending time with her, Kazuto for the same reason as well for getting that thrill back. He had promised they would continue to do so until he went off to college and every time he returned. They _felt _like siblings again after so many years her brother became distant from her.

She hoped this feeling would last as long as possible.

* * *

Today was the 15th of September. It has been two months. _Finally._

Kazuto had his headphones on and was watching his monitor. He was on the MMO Today website, watching yesternight's news report. On another monitor was another news report from an international news agency but paused. The third had a written report in English published by another gaming site, Honest Gaming. They were all reporting the same thing, the hard copy sales of Sword Art Online.

There were _thousands _of people that flooded the streets of Japan looking for any store that was selling them. From the excited locals to the more excited foreigners. The video he was watching had a pretty looking reporter interviewing a group of customers that had acquired their copies; a mix group of Japanese, Eastern Asian, Middle Eastern, South American customers with the hugest grins on their faces, some wearing their Nerve Gears. In the background, disappointed faces of locals and foreigners alike. He was glad he had pre-ordered his in advance. He noticed a couple of people fighting over a copy in the corner of his screen.

He understood the need to use hard copies instead of the standard digital market and why it was only limited to 15000 copies. The servers clearly couldn't handle the new advance tech. Most MMOs nowadays launched in the tens of thousands, 15000 was a relatively small number. He was no technician but he was sure that Argus made the right choice in limiting to such a small number. Kazuto recalled lagging in a cave on the fourth floor and died when a skeleton sliced his head off.

The video from one of the big international news agencies were reporting the business sides of things. RECTO Progress was supporting a good 15% of SAO on their servers, it's said that the 15% covered about floor 80 and above. He wonders if that'll affect the game in any negative manner. It was also being discussed how militaries were trying to get their own prototypes of the Full Dive technology and negotiations were underway. It then showed a few doctors discussing the possibilities of how it could be used to unlock the full potential of the human brain.

The text article was less extravagant, simply discussing on some features of the game. A lack of an in-game store raised eyebrows, the typical praise of the graphics and the intelligent level design created by some of the most creative heads of the gaming industry. The longest chunk of paragraph was how there were no in-game ads to ruin the experience. Both the author and the comments sections were glorifying the great game designer that was Kayaba Akihiko. He could agree with that 100%.

Kazuto eyed the clock at the lower corner of the screen. 12.55 pm, five minutes till launch. He put away the shinai he had been swinging up and down for the past fifteen minutes by his desk. He took one large gulp of cold water and placed the glass back on his end table. The teenager briefly looked out his window and was expecting to see his sister routinely running to her kendo club. He didn't and remembered how that day she going to show him 'the biggest surprise you've ever seen.' In fact, he only saw her briefly during breakfast and the two didn't practice kendo that morning like they had been lately. It was out of the ordinary but he didn't pay much attention to it. When Suguha was ready to surprise, she will and he would just wait.

He turned on the Nerve Gear, the humming and beeps greeted him like an old friend. The Nerve Gear was strapped in, the plug was inserted and he lay on bed. It was 1.00 pm now. He closed his eye and uttered the line he had long awaited to say for the past two months.

"Link Start!"

* * *

He opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of an immense castle. Large and imposing made entirely of some sort of black iron. Around him he there were a multitude of people ranging from different shapes and colours. He examined his bare hands and flexed them in and out. In the corner of his eyes, he could a see green stripe with the numbers 50/50 on one end, _my health bar! _He breathed in deeply, looked at the sky and shouted.

"Yatta!"

Klein didn't care if people were staring him. He was too amazed by the new world of Aincrad. It looked exactly like the screenshots but a million times better. It brought him memories of the older JRPGs he played when he was younger. He ran to the nearest fountain and dips his hand inside. His hand felt wet, this felt like actual water! Though it did feel a little thick, it still felt like it. The man's smile was threatening to rip face apart. Wiping his hands on his pants, he ran into a random direction, ready to explore this new world.

The redhead was examining the various stores lined up along the streets. The streets itself was crowded; many of the people were looking around with huge smiles and wide eyes. A few rigid looking men were in armour were standing about by the large gates to West. Players and NPCs. Even the NPCs looked very human. Catching a store with various weapons on sale, he browsed through them. An assortment of blades from daggers to shortswords were on display; at the back, he could see a barrel full of spears. He looked up to the merchant, a tanned skin man with a fuzzy beard.

"How much for one of those?" He pointed a finger at the barrel.

"Welcome!"

"Uh, may I have one of those spears, please?"

"I beg your pardon?" the shopkeeper said. Klein was confused by this. He turned around to maybe ask another player to help him.

One person in particular caught his eye. She was tall, fit with light blue hair barely reaching the base of her neck. A determined expression plastered on her pretty face; a quiver of bolts and a knife on her hip, a crossbow on her back. The girl was walking determinedly to the city gates. She looked like she knew what she was doing. Maybe she was one of those very fortunate beta testers?

"Excuse me, miss? I was wondering how you -" He placed his hand on her shoulder and she pulled back immediately.

"Don't bother me, noob." She hissed and walked away at a faster pace. Klein made a face. People can be so unfriendly.

The newbie player looked around and saw another particular player. He was tall as he was, with long spiky black hair with long fringes that frame a handsome face. He was running to the Western gate with vigour. Another player who knows what he's doing. Klein ran up to him and shouted, "Hey, wait up!"

"Hey, you there!" The player in the blue tunic turned around, surprised.

"M-me?"

Klein had to stop and breathed in deeply from the running. Can one actually get tired in this game? He recalled it all depended on mental willpower.

"You look like you know your way around. Were you in the beta?"

"Err… yeah …?"

"This is my first day! Well, I think you knew that with the thousands of players popping in but yeah, total new guy! Do you mind teaching me the basics? Pretty please? I beg you!" He clasped his hands. Shameless begging _always _works. Well, 25% chance of success anyways. Klein knew, he ran the numbers.

The beta tester regained his composure from the sudden assault of questions thrown at him. A smirk appeared. "Sure thing, noob-san. I'll be your tutorial." He shook hands with the player.

"Klein. Nice to meet you."

"Kirito. You too."

* * *

The player known as Kirito walked with him back to the stall where he wanted to purchase the weapons. Scrolling his fingers through the air, the sell/buy tab popped up. It listed the type of gear one would expect. "You can just talk to them but their AI isn't very advance. Be very specific with your purchases. Use phrases like 'I want to buy X' and point very accurately. Or just use the menu though that's just my preference."

Each player started with 500 Col and Klein had decided to buy everything he can with it. For weapons, he purchased a spear. For armor, he bought a leather vest, gloves and boots; selling the sandals that each player already came Equipped with. On Kirito's advice, Klein bought a knife and small backpack (for extra inventory space). That left him with 55 Col left which he saved.

"Make sure to _always_ have a backup weapon. Never know when you might need them." He lectured.

"Yes, sensei!"

He strapped the knife to his belt and slung his spear over his shoulder. They jogged outside the Western city gates. The First City was surrounded by fields of green grass, flowers and large rocks sprout up unevenly around the landscape. Dirt roads lead out beyond to other towns and into patches of trees, forests. Klein could spot blue things dotting the fields, Blue Boars. He should go practiced on them.

Then he noticed that Kirito didn't have any weapons on him at all. They also weren't going up to fields of Boars to practice. He seemed to be leading him somewhere else.

"Where are we going? I thought we were gonna have some action? And why haven't you bought anything?"

"Patience. You'll see soon enough."

After ten minutes of alternating between jogging and walking (wow,he was pretty tired), they had reached a scattering of rocks behind the Starting City. The experienced player walked up to one of them and put his hands on them. "Well, help me push this thing! My Strength got nerfed."

With a few grunts and a lot of pushing, the rock toppled over. Underneath was a hole in the earth. Kirito reached in and pulled out a backpack, one larger than Klein's.

"What the-"

He opened the flap and turned over the bag. Bows, swords, shields and all other sorts of arms and armour dropped out. Klein's jaw hit the ground.

"How- how did you-"

"Hahaha! They didn't find my stash! Thank you, inept programmers!" Before Klein could ask further, the other player explained.

"If you drop an item anywhere, they won't disappear until its Durability runs out. If you put in a Container like a bag or a corpse, they'll effectively stay safe until the bag itself loses all its Durability. You lose all your items, in Containers or otherwise, when beta ends so I decided to test out my theory whether I can hide my stuff somewhere. Turns out I was right."

Kirito bent down and rummaged through the pile of gear. He picked out his armour, boots, gloves and vest, not unlike Klein's in addition to braces which Klein didn't have. He clipped a dirk and a longsword to his belt and finally, a pack of throwing knives. In the small pile of weapons that could arm a small village, one specific weapon caught his eye.

"Hey, can I have that bow?"

"Oh yeah, sure. I'm not much of an archer anyway." The veteran handed the rookie the shortbow plus a quiver with 30 arrows, which Klein Equipped. The rest of the weapons he placed back in the bag. Kirito said he would sell them to players who want them or the NPC merchants later on.

They walked a bit further away from the scattering of rocks. After a few minutes of walking, the two reached a rectangular clearing with dirt roads surrounding it. A few trees and «Blue Boars» scattered the otherwise mostly empty field. The Blue Boars were grazing nonchalantly, minding their own business. Kirito pointed to one Boar that was some distance away from the pack. He gave the spearman brief instructions on how to attack and use Sword Skills.

Klein stood about three meters away from the Boar; it eyed the would-be-hunter lazily with red eyes and returned to its grazing. He could see a health bar above it, 30/30 HP. The beta tester stood further back, hands in pocket. He smiled and gave thumbs up.

The spearmen lifted his weapon, inched slowly and poke at it gently. There seemed to be no effect other than an annoyed snort. The teacher shouted to his student.

"Remember the motion input! Poke it harder!" He poked it again, the Boar snorted slightly louder this time.

"You hear that! It's laughing at you! You going to take that from some stupid blue pig?" That was just the encouragement he needed. Klein swung his spear in an upward arc at its sides, feeling some sort of power guiding his aim. It hit its mark and Boar toppled from the impact. He could see a red -5 on the Boar's health bar. Yes, finally he's doing some damage!

Before he could pat himself on the back, the Boar righted itself up and charged at the one who interrupted its meal. The spearman haphazardly thrust again and missed. The boar managed to horned Klein's groin and threw the hunter a good two meters. He dropped his weapon and clutched his valuables and screamed.

"Come on, that's not the pain you're feeling, just impact."

"Oh yeah, you're right. Force of habit." The swordsman wondered if being hit in the balls was a regular occurrence for the newbie.

"You did it right the first time because you had the proper stance. Your second attempt failed because the initial motion input was incorrect, most likely because you panicked."

Kirito walked up to the Boar that had returned to its grazing and gave it a strong kick at its stab wound. Klein could see its HP going down by 6, though the number was slightly bigger than the -5 he just did. The animal retaliated, slightly more aggressive having been disturbed twice. The beta tester simply held it by the horns in a calm manner.

"SAO has a somewhat realistic health/damage system. Your spear was able to pierce quite deeply into it and when you pulled out it left a large wound. You can exploit that weakness for critical hits. To simplify, just think of the damage system as it would be in real life."

With a shift to the left he threw off the Boar and gave another kick to its sides for 3 DMG, the Boar turned around to charge at Klein again. The spearman stood firm, spear aimed and pulled back for a downwards thrust. When it came just into range, he pulled back and thrust the spear right in its face. The Boar stood dead in its tracks and as Klein performed a critical hit of 20 DMG.

"All right!' He pumped his fist into the air.

"Congratulations, you've slain a pig, the easiest enemy in the game. Truly you are a mighty warrior of immense skill." Despite the sarcastic tone, Kirito smiled genuinely and the two high fived.

"Let's go find more Boars to kill." Klein said as he pulled out his spear from the carcass. Or at least tried to, the spear was pretty deep in its skull.

"Be careful with your thrusts and stabs. Go in deep enough and you'll do massive damage but risk having your weapon stuck in." Klein grasped it out with both hands and successfully yanked it out, a disgusting sound of steel being pulled out of meat and bone. The end of his spear was now bright red. Kirito threw him a piece of cloth from his pack.

"Make sure to clean your weapon after battle or it'll quickly lose Durability." Klein started to wipe away the glowing virtual blood.

"First time I've played a game where you need to clean the blood off your weapon." He commented. Kayaba Akihiko was the type for realism in games according to the very few interviews.

"Good, now skin the Boar."

"Wait, what?"

To Klein's immense relief, the 'Skinning' was only a mini game of sorts. He had to touched the carcass with tip of his dagger, follow the lines and gestures that appeared on a pop up screen and the system would do the rest. The Boar glowed blue, leaving a very realistic looking skinless corpse, the dark red meat underneath almost made him want to vomit (can he actually get sick in the game?). He didn't do very well and received 1 x Blue Boar Leather (Poor). He stored the leather in his Inventory to later be Tanned (another mini game) and sold. He could also craft things with it, Kirito told, but Klein would decide on that later.

The two adventurers went about slaying more wildlife. They started with Boars in pairs, they moved up to four and to six; each player taking on three Boars by themselves. Klein was getting used to the fighting and became bolder; able to one shot each Boar with a quick thrust. Kirito would leap into the front and aggro the entire pack while he would attack from either the sides or the back. Together, they were wiping the floor with these Boars and gaining a lot of XP and leather. He was getting better with the Tanning mini game too, even if it did become a little tedious.

As they were moving around looking for more packs to kill and respawn, Kirito spoke up. "So why did you choose the spear as your main weapon?"

"Oh, that's easy. It's because I wanted to RP as a samurai!"

"You do realise there's no job system in this game right?" They hopped over a small stream. "Besides, don't samurai use katanas?"

"Well I know that. But I read the previews of beta testers posting their stats, attributes, equipment and stuff. They all had their own custom builds. So using the information I could gather, I decided to be a Critical Shot type of player, using spears and archery to go hit the weak points for massive damage. Maybe having my swords for DPS types for backup."

Kirito nodded his head in approval. "You did your research, I'm impressed."

"And to answer your second question, despite what popular culture tells you, samurais were primarily spearmen and archers." Klein used the same lecturing tone that Kirito had been using on him for the past two hours. "Katanas and wakizashis were primarily backup weapons. Samurais fought in ways not at all different from other ancient armies. In fact, back then, the Way of The Samurai was also known as -"

"-The Way of the Bow and Horse." Kirito cut in. "You're not the only one who knows his history."

"Hahah! Another history enthusiast?" He wrapped his arm around the ex-beta tester's shoulders. "I knew there was another reason I liked you!"

"Well, I'm no expert, just read a few articles here and there about ancient arms and armour. A video or two, nothing too scholarly. It's important to learn this stuff, you know. Especially in fantasy games, you just have to get some things right."

The older man removed his arm from Kirito's shoulders. "Speaking of fantasy, there's no magic in the game right?"

"You still have your healing potions and enchanted items. There are skills like Alchemy and Enchanting where you make magical items and such. So expect finding rings, necklaces, crystals, elixirs and all sorts of items that give stat boosts. Just like most MMORPGs. But spells of that nature? Only NPCs can shoot fireballs out of their hands." He scratched his chin. "Well, I take that back. The 'magical' attacks are like shooting five arrows from your bow accurately. I hear the higher level attributes allow you to spin your body like whirlwinds of death, running up walls and all that cool stuff."

"Wow! Can't wait to do all that! I was kind of frustrated when I first heard there would be no magic of any kind but now I'm actually fine with that." He laughed. "Remember the first few interviews where Kayaba said he wouldn't put in range weapons other than _throwing needles_?"

"Yeah, I think he was actually pressured into making them when players heard about it. What kind of fantasy game doesn't have bows? The uproar was so bad he even put firearms in!" The idea of putting in early blackpowder guns was something the community was split on. Some hated the idea, others liked them. Kirito was on the fence on the matter, he decided he would have a proper opinion on them when he gets his hands on one.

"When can we get our hands on them anyway? I'd like to have a flintlock pistol or four." It turns out Klein was in favour of them; to each his own.

"Eh, I don't know. The 'normal' beta testers only reached the 11th floor. The Specialists, the ones Argus hired to implement the firearm systems, were placed at about floor 70 along with some normal testers. Other Specialists like historical martial arts practitioners were also stuck with the rest of us. It's going take a long while to reach that level."

Klein scratched his stubble. "Hmm, I wonder if we could meet one of these Specialists. Say, how about horses?"

"Mounts start appearing on the 9th floor. Sorry, but you have to wait to practice the Way of The Horse, just the Bow for now. Speaking of which, I think it's time for you to use that bow of yours." He pointed to a Blue Boar about ten meters away in the distance.

It turned out that Klein knew how to shoot properly thus he had no need for Kirito's instructions. He stood straight, back stiff, feet apart and head turned left. His left arm steadily holding the bow, his right hand nocking the arrow, rested the arrow on his left pointer finger (since the bow had no arrow rest), he aimed with his right eye and pulled, the string touching his lips.

Klein breathed in.

He exhaled.

Release.

The arrow flew and hit the ground three meters away from his target.

"Well uh …" Kirito tried thinking of something to comfort the man. "Wow, better than what I could have done!" It was the truth; Kirito was lousy with the bow. Throwing came easier for him.

"Ugh, been sometime since I shot an arrow." He grumbled.

"Oh, you practice archery?"

The wannabe samurai nocked another arrow. "Used to, back in college. Since I started working, haven't the time for equipment for it. It was more of a hobby really." The next arrow flew true and hit the back of one of the Blue Boars for 10 DMG. He shot again, this one hitting the face for 20, the Boar fell over dead.

"Nice shot!"

"Thanks, the crosshair helps too!"

Their celebration was cut short when two other Blue Boars noticed them and charged. The two boar slayers laughed.

"We can handle this!" Kirito readied his blade.

"No problem!" Klein prepared to shoot again.

Suddenly, another boar appeared from behind some bushes. It was big, the size of a cow, with tusks the size of their arms. One red eye stared menacingly at them, the other had an arrow imbedded in it. Its fur was bushier, spikier than the rest of its kin. It stomped the earth with both front legs. They could feel the vibration all the way from they were standing.

The name Mama Boar appeared in their HUDs. The mini boss charged.

The sounds of two players screaming in horror were heard all over the Western fields.

* * *

"_What is that screaming?" _Asuna wondered. Her question was answered when she saw her brother passed her door, stomping furiously while typing something on his phone. Pausing the video of a cat doing something adorable, she got off her computer. The college student followed her brother to his bedroom.

The bedroom was spacious and luxurious much like hers. Large windows let in the sunlight; his wallpaper was of a calming sea blue colour. A king sized bed was situated at one side of the room. In the corner, she could spot his expensive custom built computer with the three monitors on it. Asuna never understood why people would need more than one monitor on their computer.

That wasn't the thing that caught her attention. What did however was Kouichirou packing up his clothes and other sort of essentials. She knocked on his door.

"Ah, Asuna! Could you please call Sada and tell her to prepare my suit? The one I wore last Tuesday." He waved her off, too engrossed in packing.

After she did so, she returned to begin her questioning. "What's happening? Where are you going?"

"Emergency meeting, something about the servers in Hong Kong. Apparently for some reason, they need to renew it. Will have to renegotiate the whole thing again! So I have to fly to Hong Kong to sign some papers because some idiot got the paperwork wrong!" Asuna rarely saw her brother this furious.

"So? What's the problem? Why can't you just fax it or something? And why don't they come to you? It's their fault."

"The thing is, sister dearest, that sometimes these things happen. They need to see me sign the papers physically. As for why they don't get their asses to Japan and I quote "_due to undisclosed reason, Argus cannot spare to send its Hong Kong division employees to Japan"_. They're too cheap is what I think. Already making billions with their new release." Kouichirou pulled out his laptop from his desk and its assorted accessories.

"Why are such in a hurry anywa-"

"Did they have to do this on the launch day of Sword Art Online?!" he shouted in frustration. Ah, that's why he's so upset.

"I'm so sorry, oniisan."

"Huh, why? Not like it's your fault. Just those stupid idiot morons at Argus …" he continued his cursing. Kouichirou was never particularly creative at that.

"Don't worry; I'll keep your Nerve Gear safe."

"Atta girl." He didn't bother to pat her head this time. "Could you tell Father about my predicament and tell the driver to prepare the car?"

In an hour plus, the young businessman was out and on his way to the airport. In truth, he didn't need to hurry at all but Kouichirou was very irritated at having his gaming day disrupted. The younger Yuuki could understand his frustrations somewhat, waiting for months to get something only then to be denied that chance. But something as trivial as a video game? Her mother told her it was the only silly thing he had yet to outgrew, to which he defiantly resisted her sentiments. As evidence, it seemed the only things he bought with his income were new suits, fencing equipment and the latest gaming gadgets. Before he left, she saw him looked longingly at his Nerve Gear and whispered, "We'll be reunited, babe."

What a dork.

After that incident, Asuna returned to her room and her state of boredom. There really wasn't much to do around the house. She cooked of course but Mother forbade her to cook anything more luxurious since she was wasting too many supplies when they should have been saved for special occasions. Normal everyday food wasn't much of an interest for her; she let Sada do the cooking for that. She wanted to try something new. Watching TV, films and such had lost their entertainment value and she read everything that could be read from her new reference books.

Something new …

Asuna found herself in Kouichirou's room again; he must have forgotten to lock it. She inspected the Nerve Gear helmet in her hands. It was roughly the size of a motorcycle helmet, deep blue in colour, and a black visor. There was a compartment tray at the back and in it a square data card (the latest type of date storage hardware released in 2020) with the SAO cover on it. The inside of the helmet had state of the art microwave sensors that would connect the user's brainwaves and the machine. Paddings that covered the base of the neck made up a 'collar' and it had more microwave sensors. A long wire from the side of helmet was connected to her brother's computer.

She sat in her brother's recliner that he bought for the sole purpose of sitting and playing SAO. The on button was switched. Asuna could hear whirring sound and beeping as she strapped the helmet on; the clock in top left corner told her it was 1.27 pm. She closed her eyes and uttered the phrase that her brother had been annoyingly saying to himself for the last three months.

"Link Start!"

She dived.

Rays of all colours flew past her, messages confirming touch, taste, sight, sound and smell beeped okay. Asuna found herself staring at an interface asking for In Game Language, she chose Japanese. Another asking for account name and password. It had already been filled, presumably with her brother's credentials. She consciously confirmed and found herself at another screen for character creation.

This felt amazing and she wasn't even in the game yet! The young woman proceeded to meticulously create her avatar. After thirty minutes of customising the avatar, she had finished. In front of her was a woman 180cm tall. She had flowing black hair tied in a ponytail reaching her waist, a heart shape face with blue eyes, slightly pointed nose and thin lips. She was curvaceous with a modestly sized bust and was wearing white cotton pants and tunic, a red vest and skirt plus sandals. The avatar of Yuuki Asuna looked absolutely perfect.

Asuna then pressed Reset, throwing away her half hour of work, chose Reflection which gave her a mirror version of the real her, bumped the age slider to 25 and pressed finished.

After a moment she saw the streaking rays of blue, crystals of colour as she descended into the world of Aincrad. Part of her felt a nagging feeling that this wasn't her brother's idea of keeping 'babe' safe. At the moment, she didn't care.

What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

This was the worst thing that could possibly happen right now.

The two players had been running nonstop for the past five minutes. Mama Boar had no intention of letting the murderers of her babies go away scot free. Blood must be repaid in blood.

"Real nice job there, Klein!" the swordsman was running as fast as the speed of light, or at least as fast as his Agility stat allowed him.

"How was I supposed to know there was a mini boss there?! You should have told me!" Klein tried shooting backwards while running only for all his shots to miss and promptly gave up on the idea.

"This wasn't in the beta!" The two vaulted over a wooden fence but mere wooden boards could not contain the wrath of a vengeful mother. She rammed right through it.

"Where are we going?!"

"I thought you knew, _sensei!_" There was an emphasis on the last word. Kirito spotted a farm in the distance to the Northwest; it was surrounded by herds of cows grazing on the fields. There were NPCs farmer going about their daily lives. In the middle, there was a farmhouse and a large red barn. Maybe they could … it might just work.

"Klein, to that barn over there! Let's go!"

They vaulted another wooden fence, this one in better shape than the previous one. It did nothing to slow down the Boar which destroyed it just as easily. Ignoring the confused stares of the NPC farmhands, both of them ran into the barn. Hastily, they climbed up the ladder to the second floor and Klein kicked the ladder down. Both collapsed onto the piles of hay, exhausted.

"Oh wow, never knew you could get so tired running." Klein stated through deep breaths.

"Yeah, but we're safe for now. That Boar can't catch us."

They could feel the entirety of the upper barn shook. The two poked their heads over and could see Mama Boar ramming into the pillars, over and over, like an angry bull. One of the pillars cracked, wood splinters flying everywhere. Kirito knocked on the floor and Klein saw a little purple display pop up with words written on it.

«Breakable Structure»

"Crap!" Both yelled out.

Klein shot arrow after arrow, the mini boss had 140/150 HP and his arrows were only doing a very small 4 DMG and with the way the floor was shaking, most of his shots were missing. Kirito's throwing knives were doing worse than Klein's arrows were despite hitting with more frequency. After much ramming, the pillar broke and the second floor shifted slightly, threatening to throw the players off. The Boar then moved to another pillar and had started ramming it like it did the previous one.

"Wait Klein, conserve your arrows. I've got a plan." Before Klein was able to get a word out, the beta tester leaped off the second floor, longsword held in both hands and descended onto the boss.

The Plunging Attack did huge amounts of Damage as the blade went in more than half into the monster. Already half of its health was gone and to add injury to more injury, he twisted the blade and Mama Boar now had 50 HP left. She shook and squealed as she tried to get the offender off her back. Kirito vaguely resembled a cowboy trying to wrangle an angry bull. He pulled out his blade, jumped off the Boar and ran outside, the Boar giving chase.

"Hey! Wait up!" Klein jumped off and mentally smacked himself for doing so, as the fall damage took 20 out of his 50 HP. He readied his spear and went after the other player. He didn't have to go far as he spotted Kirito running around in circles, the Boar doing the same. He thought that the swordsman wasn't risking himself to try to strike the angry Boar; they were both still Level 1 and did not have very high STR.

"Klein, I'll agro her while you attack!"

"Roger!"

The plan didn't go as well as expected. Each time one of them hit the Boar, that person would be agroed. Meaning they had to be on the defensive side as she keep alternating targets, the agroed person had to step back quickly as she tried to run them over and the other player would try to attack. It was slow and tedious, neither Kirito's sword nor Klein's spear was able to properly penetrate the thick meat.

The Boar was currently on Kirito as the swordsman tried to dodge her attack tusks. Klein rushed in and this time put a little more power into his thrust, the System assisting in his move. This particular thrust was able to cut in deep into its hindlegs and the Boar was actually staggered by it. Before he could twist his spear like Kirito did with his sword, Mama Boar turned over, pulling Klein's spear from his grasp. The shaft of the spear hit Kirito's legs and he tripped.

In a panic moment, Klein took a step back and fell over. The Boar started its attack and charged full speed, intent on trampling the spearman to death. The only thing Klein could do was pulling out his knife and putting it forward as he closed his eyes awaiting inevitable death. The running steps of four hooves reached its crescendo.

*Schink!*

Did he kill it? He didn't feel the impact.

The bandana wearing adventurer opened his eyes and saw a sword sticking through the Boar from its left side going through all the way to the other side. The one who saved him pulled out his sword with relative difficulty and offered him his arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Thank you so much, man! I thought I was done for!" Klein blurted out, incredibly grateful.

"Hey!" Came the voice of his guide as he stomped angrily up to him. "You stole my kill you …" The words died in his throat.

"Oi Kirito, chill out. This guy just saved our lives." Klein defended. The other man's eyes widen.

"You!"

* * *

"Me?"

"Welcome, miss! Would you like to make a purchase?"

Asuna had spent the last hour wandering about the Starting City, taking in the sight, sounds and even _smell_ of the world. She inspected the buildings, smelled the flora, gazed at other players and most of all had spent the time looking at the sky, or more accurately the ceiling. From what she knew, the entirety of Aincrad was akin to a large building, a castle as the game puts it, and at the top the Ruby Castle. She felt giddy at the prospect of exploration.

Somehow Asuna found herself in a store and the euphoric feeling of wonder had finally subsided somewhat, though not entirely. She didn't even catch the name of the store. The store itself was small but dense. The only people in the store were her, the shopkeeper and a couple of men inspecting a weapon rack. A variety of (very pointy) weapons covered the walls, armour ranging from what look to be an iron shirt and shiny metal armour (she didn't know the proper names for them) were placed on wooden torsos. She carefully moved closer to the shopkeeper. He looked like a dwarf from a fantasy movie she watched long ago, with a bald head and fuzzy brown beard.

"We've got all the equipment any daring adventurer needs! What would it be today?" He looked like an actual dwarf. Round face, small eyes and he could see each individual strand on his beard. The facial animations were amazing.

She couldn't contain her amazement. "Wow!"

"I beg your pardon?"

Embarrassed at her staring at a total stranger, she apologised. "Gomen, I didn't mean to stare."

"You have to be more specific."

"I said I was … sorry?"

"You do realise he doesn't understand what you're saying, don't you?"

Asuna looked up at the person who spoke to her. He was a tall old man with a kind face, grey hair, a neatly trimmed beard with leathery brown skin. He wore a white tunic not unlike other players she had passed.

"What do you mean?"

"He's an NPC; their AI script isn't the most advance in the game." Asuna looked more puzzled.

"Enpeesee?"

"I think you lost her there, Ridwan." The other man said. He was a bit shorter than the old man but not by much. He had bright blue eyes, long blond hair reaching his shoulders and he too had an equally well groomed beard. He wore a green tunic with short sleeves. Asuna then just noticed that the two men in front of her were speaking English.

"Oh, where are my manners!" The one known as Ridwan said but this time in Japanese. "My name is Ridwan. This is my brother, Malik." The blonde man known as Malik raised his hand and smiled.

"Arigato!" he greeted warmly. The older man smacked the back of Malik's head.

"I told you, it's konnichiwa! Arigato means thank you!" The younger man didn't seem at all bothered being smack in the head.

"Ah yeah, uh … sayonara?" His brother sighed, Asuna laughed.

"No, it is alright. I can speak English." She said fluently, if not on the slow side. "My name is Asuna."

"So Asuna, are you here to buy a weapon too?' The man asked and pointed to the rack of weapons the two were just browsing.

'Why would I need to buy a weapon?" The two brothers stared at each other briefly in puzzlement. The girl blushed, wondering if she just asked a stupid question.

"You know," Malik thrust his hand forward, "to kill the mobs outside?"

"Mobs?"

"To gain XP?" Ridwan continued.

"Eksepee?"

"For levelling up?" Malik said. Asuna was silent and her face became redder by the second. Are these some sort of gaming terms? She didn't know what these things meant! The two must think her as some sort of idiot!

"Miss," the old man said slowly, "is this your first time playing an MMORPG?" Looking confused, Ridwan explained. "Massive multiplayer online role playing game."

She rubbed her hands together before saying "Yes. I have never played any video games before. This game is my first."

Ridwan stumbled a bit as Malik slapped his hand on his brother's back. "You hear that, brother? Asuna here needs guidance! Do not worry, Asuna! I shall teach you the ways of gaming!"

The more calmed of the two said, "What Malik here means that we wouldn't mind being your guides." He smirked. "Well, I'm the one more qualified to be your guide. Malik here is just as new at this game as you are. I was in the beta test."

"Lucky bastard." The younger man grumbled.

"See, brother? That's why you should have taken Japanese for your Foreign Language subject in high school."

"Well," the college student laughed, the two brothers reminding her of her own, "I suppose I should get myself a weapon?"

After some pondering, Asuna had decided to buy herself a rapier (a gentleman's weapon Ridwan said). Ridwan bought a longsword, Malik a quarterstaff, both bought themselves shortbows as well as all the arrows they could their hands on, leaving them with no money left. Asuna being more careful of her Col, bought a simple breastplate that covered her entire top of her torso, stopping just above the navel. She almost bought an archer's chest guard that only covered the left side of her torso before Ridwan advised her that was not the thing she should be buying and advised the larger breastplate instead.

The beta tester showed the two how to Equip their new equipment. Both she and Malik were delighted with beeps and bells that the Menu made. Asuna stumbled a bit when the heavy chest guard materialised on her but was otherwise bearable. They walked out the store and off to the Eastern town gates.

On the way, the staff user had pulled out a Translator Book out of his pocket. The Translator Book was something all non-Japanese players had started with. The way it worked was that the person would say something in their original language, the book would translate it and both Japanese and the Roman alphabets would materialise on the pages.

"What is your name?" he said aloud. Empty pages materialise the kanji with its Roman alphabets. "O-namae wa nan desu ka?" he repeated his question, tongue stiff.

"Asuna da." the girl answered. She asked, "Shusshin wa doko desu ka?" (Where are you from?)

"New York, United States." Malik didn't need to use his translator for that. "Donna shigoto o shiteiru no?" ("What is your occupation?")

"Saito daigaku. Anata."(College student. You?)

"Onaji."(Same.)

"Anata wa nan-saidearu?" (How old are you?) "Oh –ho!" Ridwan said loudly. "How un-gentlemanly of you!" Malik looked like he was going to apologise for such inappropriateness.

Asuna didn't really mind. He was just trying to be friendly. "Has sa i jus sai. Anata." (18, you?)

"Onaji."

The girl asked a question of her own. "Watashi wa, bijinesu o benkyō. Anata wa nani o benkyō shimasu?"(I study business. What do you study?)

He was silent for a moment before answering, "Hōsoku."(Law.) Both men chuckled at the answer. She didn't dwell long on it.

"Doko ni benkyō shimasu, Asuna? "(Where do you study, Asuna?)

"Tōkyōdaigaku. Doko ni benkyō shimasu? Hōritsu no dono yō na? Anata wa sore o sukidesuka? Anata wa yoku yatte iru? Sore wa muzukashīdesu ka?" (Tokyo University. Where do you study? What kind of law? Do you like it? Are you doing well? Is it difficult?)

Malik looked at the increasing lines of text on his book before closing it and putting it in his pocket. "Okay, that's enough. My translator is going to catch fire at the rate you're talking." A raised eyebrow. "Unless that was your intention."

"But Malik-san, you are rather good at it, it just needs more work." She praised, the smirk tugging the edges hinted that she did do it on purpose.

"Well, it's my first day learning Japanese! Maybe some other time, Asuna-sensei?"

"Of course, my student."

They passed through a large gate with guards wielding halberds on both sides. The Eastern fields were packed with players farming Boars left and right. The quantities of players clearly outnumbered the number of mobs. Many were even resting, waiting for all the enemies to respawn. Ridwan proposed they all go further northeast. The Boars there were a level higher but he reassured them they were just fine with their level.

The group walked some distance away until they lost sight of the other players. They would need to walk about ten minutes more to get to the good spots, not that she mind. It would be a change of scenery compared to brick and mortar walls that she had been around for the past hour. They walked on grassy fields that reminded her of golf fields. The wind blew in her face and her hair swayed comfortably. Malik seemed to be of the same mind, his goofy smile never once leaving his field. Ridwan was about fifteen paces forward, 'scouting' he claims.

"Malik-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are we supposed to kill pigs?"

"Boars," he corrected. "Well to gain XP, experience points, so we can level up."

"Level up?" she continued.

"It means we, uh … 'upgrade' ourselves. We upgrade ourselves so we can fight better and be the best."

"But do we have to kill? I don't want to kill some poor innocent animal!" Malik inspected a Boar in the distance. They had dark blue, fuzzy fur, red eyes, brownish-white tusks and a large snout. Their bums were a slight pink. It was a hideous thing; not a type of animal he would describe as 'poor' or 'innocent'. He could however appreciate the hard work that went into creating such a life like animal.

"Oh don't worry about it! It's standard RPG stuff; you'll get the hang of it." The trio walked up to a relatively un-crowded field. There were only two Boars grazing. Ridwan went on to explain the input motion of Sword Skills and Asuna listened carefully. Malik did not, most likely because he had heard the explanation a hundred times before arriving to Japan. Yet Ridwan insisted in showing a demonstration.

The swordsman walked up to a Boar and raised his blade overhead and brought it down cleanly on the neck. Glowing red blood pooled underneath. Malik had a look of wonder on his face, Asuna had a look of horror.

"Wait, stop! What are you doing?!" Her shouting startled the two men.

"Uh, fighting mobs?" Ridwan explained, a confused look on his face. "This is exactly what you do in RPGs."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't kill like that. This is wrong. I know this is what normal gamers do but I just can't. It's too real." She shook her head vigorously, crossing her arms.

"I understand, Asuna-san." Malik said, an understanding look on his face.

"You do?"

"You can't just kill things like this. It's wrong." He nodded, a neutral look on his face.

"Yes, thank you. I am glad you understand." She blew a sigh of relief.

"Of course. One should only kill in self-defence, even then one should always try to avoid it." Malik explained sagely. His older brother was standing there with a more confused look on his face, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Exactly. I am very glad that we have come to an understanding that violence is never the ans-"

"Yo Asuna-san, that Boar behind you is trying to trample you." Malik pointed out.

"Nani - EEEKK!" She felt something slamming into her backside. Asuna flipped over and landed head first into the ground. Both Americans let out a laugh as she lay on the grass.

"That was not funny!" She stood up quickly, rubbing her bottom.

"Of course, haha, of course not! I mean, that wasn't funny at all." Ridwan said in between chuckles.

"No, not at all, Asuna-san. Not in the slightest." The blonde one said, honesty non-existent.

She spotted the Boar in front of her, some distance away. It snorted and readied itself for another charge. Furiously, she drew out her rapier. When the Boar started her charge, she ran and thrust her blade forward, the System assisting her with a Sword Skill. The tip imbedded itself in the Boar's eye and stopped it dead in its track. Asuna looked back on the two veteran gamers, their laughter silenced and their jaws hanging.

"Wow, Asuna-san! That was amazing!" The younger brother praised.

"Felt fun, didn't it? I admit, VR is an entirely new level compared to normal gaming but it looks like you're a born natural." Ridwan clapped his hands. "I am most impressed."

Asuna looked at the Boar she just killed. It lay dead at her feet and its right eye was penetrated by the rapier. _Her _rapier. She stood there, still not believing what she had just accomplished. She pondered on what she did. Did she just kill in self-defence? She liked to think she did it but there was that thrill, that excitement, of fighting. Fighting of course, not necessarily killing. She shook her head, getting the philosophical thoughts out of her head. Ridwan motioned her to join him as they walked away from the site.

"Good, since you've familiarised yourself with the System, we can start by clearing out some of these Boars. You in, Miss Fencer?"

"Yes …" She began slowly; another sort of feeling grasped her heart. "I am in! Let us go find more enemies."

"Excellent!" Malik exclaimed like an excited child. "First Boars and then bigger monsters like dragons and stuff! Maybe we can even try to fight the most dangerous enemies in the game."

Bigger monsters? Dragons? She didn't think she could do that. No, she can. The exhilarated feeling has yet to leave her. Out of curiosity, she asked, "What are the most dangerous enemies in the game?"

"Other players." Ridwan answered. "No scripted AI can ever challenge the human mind. But I doubt we'll be fighting other players yet. Don't worry; we can practice sparring if we need to." Ridwan motioned his group to a pack of Boars by some large trees. They both broke into a jog, Asuna joining in.

Asuna was eager to fight anything but other players. What kind of person would try to kill another person?

* * *

The two swordsmen were staring at each other intensively as if trying to kill the other via glares alone. There was a heavy silence, their swords were at their side but in a moment, there was going to be a clash of steel between the two he could tell. Klein was still on the ground, shaking hand still holding the dagger, unwilling to say anything. It was Kirito who broke the silence.

"Step away from the Boar or I'll have to kill you."

It was at that moment Klein suddenly became very afraid of his teacher. He looked at his saviour, a tall, European looking man in his middle 20s (everyone was in their 20s in Aincrad as far as he knew), with neatly combed back brown hair and dark eyes that held experience in them. He too was dressed in similar attire but his tunic was red and instead of bracers like Kirito had, a long arm guard covered his entire left arm plus a shoulder pad, all made of thick leather. Klein vaguely wandered where got that so early in the game.

Instead of being intimidated, the European laughed a deep laugh, "I would take you more seriously if you didn't threaten to kill me every single time we meet." The accent marked him as German. "You see, it was I who killed the Boar and thus the reward is mine."

"That's crap and you know it! This is my kill, my spoils!"

"_Our _kill!" Klein corrected but was ignored by Kirito though noticed by the other man.

"Oh, and what do we have here? I thought you went solo, Herr Kirito."

"Don't change the subject, Von Iver. I said step away from the corpse."

"And if I don't?" he gave an annoying smile that Kirito was all too familiar with.

"Okay, that's enough from you two! I demand to know what's going on!" Klein stood up, confused and frustrated. His outburst managed to break the two's staring contest. Good, he was afraid the lightning between the two's eyes was going to strike him.

"I apologise, sir." He said, looking more relaxed. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Helmuth Von Iver, one of the lead Weapons Specialists on the development team of Sword Art Online, Blades Division." He performed a 45 degree angle bow, hand on chest.

"Wow, you're a Specialist? Really?" Klein had read the news articles. There was recently a resurgence of interest in historical martial arts. Historical European martial arts exploded a few years back, followed by a large popularity wave in the Middle East which then spread to Asia and the Americas. With the development of SAO, Argus announced about 1500 historians/practicioners were working to implement real life ancient fighting skills in the game as well as create new fantasy ones. That made people just more excited. This Helmuth Von Iver must be a sword master of sorts.

"Yes, really." He wiped off the virtual blood with a dirty rag and sheathed it. "Now, onto the matter at hand, the Boar. Since it was I who delivered the finishing blow, it is I who received the Last Attack bonus. Thus it should be me who gets the honour of skinning the beast. Even the System itself recognises it." He pulled up his menu and showed it to the two:

_Combat Log: Mama Boar, 14 DMG (Last Attack); Western Boar Fields, 1__st__ Floor. 4.30 pm, 22/09/15._

"Figures. Using your Combat Log to justify your kills while actually letting others actually doing the work." Von Iver looked incensed at the accusation.

"Me? It is you who does so while always staying at the back! You scored the Last Attack on five floor bosses, according to the other testers! There is no way someone can be that lucky!"

"Maybe I'm just better than you are! Now give me my Leather and go away!"

"No, I saved your lives; you owe me the Leather!"

"We have infinite lives!"

"It belongs to me either way!"

"How about we just share the Leather?" Klein butted in.

"No!" they yelled, which made Klein shrunk. _Oh God, they're going to stare each other to death again aren't they?_

The staring contest between the two was noticeably shorter this time. Von Iver manipulated the air once again and a pressed a couple of buttons. A pop up menu appeared in front of Kirito. It read:

**«Helmuth has challenged you to a Duel. Type: Half Loss Mode. Accept?»**

**«Yes/No»**

Kirito chose No, much to Klein's confusion. The Japanese swordsman sent the German another different challenge in return:

**«Kirito has challenged you to a Duel. Type: Total Loss Mode. Accept?»**

**«Yes/No»**

The Specialist looked up from the text. "Fancy yourself a trip to the Resurrection Room, hmm? Leave your student here all alone by himself?"

"Funny, I recalled the last time it was you who was sent there."

"Ah, it is but a small step back. I've defeated you six out of ten times."

"I'm going to make that a five," Kirito gripped his sword with both hands, tip forward. "Now, shut up and fight."

**«Yes»** was chosen and a 30 second timer began to count down. Von Iver had his feet apart, roughly shoulder wide, right foot pointing at his opponent, his left foot pivoting at a 45 degree angle, knees slightly bent. He held the sword hilt just below his waist to his right, tip pointed at Kirito's face. Kirito was in a similar stance but his sword hilt was above waist level and held in the middle of the torso, tip also aimed to stab the face.

15 seconds left.

"You could just rock-paper-scissors this, you know?" Klein said, a few meters back.

"You call yourself a samurai, Klein? Backing away from a fight." Kirito said, smiling despite about to engage in a fight to the death.

"Those of warrior castes are not supposed to be cowards. Why don't you just commit kupukupu then?" Von Iver added.

"It's _sepukku_. And … you know what? Forget it." Klein threw his arms in the air, giving up. He was just going to sit back and enjoy the show.

3. 2. 1. DUEL START!

The Specialist stepped forward, sword thrusting out to the heart. Kirito swiftly took two steps back, effectively putting himself out of his opponent's sword reach. Manoeuvring to the left and forward, he cut diagonally upwards into Von Iver's shoulder. The other swordsman expecting this move rotated his blade upward as he would a lever, and deflected the attack with the flat of his blade. He moved his blade down Kirito's and cut the back of his hand to no effect as the thick leather gloves protected him from harm.

Von Iver closed in, pivoting the blade upwards into the throat. Kirito denied him the chance as he gave a swift front kick to the man's stomach, bringing his full health to 45 HP. Both jumped backwards and readied themselves for another round of attack.

Kirito took the initiative this time, bringing his sword up to his face and swung down hard. His opponent did the same and their blades locked once more. The swordsman slid his blade downward and his true edge locked itself in the German's cross-guard. He moved in and grabbed the other's right wrist with his left hand. Von Iver countered by bringing his body down and with it his blade, it cut into the base of Kirito's neck.

The attack loosened the Japanese swordsman's grip giving enough time for the Specialist to break his right arm free. With both hands and using the power of his shoulders, he swung the flat of his sword into Kirito's temple, staggering him hard enough to throw him off balance. Von Iver delivered a swift kick to his opponent's kidney, Kirito fell face down into the ground eating dirt. He lost a good 12 HP from the attack.

"Kirito, watch out!"

Before his mind could comprehend, his body was already moving, narrowly avoiding the sword that would have been buried into his back. He got up to face his opponent and once again, narrowly avoided a horizontal slash that would have cut into his chest. Both swordsmen took a few steps back. Kirito breathed heavily, his face dusty with dirt.

"Tell me, has the earth gotten better since the end of beta? I have yet to sample a taste." Von Iver taunted.

Kirito went forward, brought his blade high above his head. The Specialist prepared for another vertical cut to deflect the blade. Instead, he twisted his sword in a wiping motion, the true edge cut deeply into Von Iver's armpit, bypassing the strong arm gauntlet. He rapidly pulled it out and went to stab slice his unprotected thing and delivered a cut just above the knee.

The German moved in, halfswording his weapon, bypassing the effective range, making the longsword Kirito used unwieldy. In return, Von Iver cut into Kirito's shoulder, grabbed the Japanese player's armour collar and kneed him in the groin. Momentarily stunned, he pushed the player away from him with his sword. His opponent off balanced, he moved for a stab in the face. Kirito twisted away, making Von Iver lost balance instead and delivered a strong left hook into the German's throat, staggering him. He tried a thrust to the torso but the sword master was already out of range. Both players jumped back again.

Klein looked at both players' health. Kirito was at a red 20 HP, Von Iver was at a yellow 25 HP. The two were very skilled combatants, almost equal to one another. Wasn't the foreigner an actual sword master in real life? How was Kirito able to be on par with him? That could only mean that the actual Kirito in life is some sort of sword master too. How lucky was he to see two masters duking it out?

Things were going badly for both of them. Kirito was in the defensive, Von Iver was in the aggressive. He had to do something before the two killed each other, all over a stupid Boar. That's it! Pulling out his knife, he began to skin the mini boss. Focussing entirely on the task, he had able to pull out x 1 Mama Boar Hide (Excellent). He turned to the two still fighting.

He wasn't sure which was which but one of them had been able to disarm the other considering one of the longswords was a few meters away from the battle. They were grappling each other in a pose that reminded him of an MMA match. Kirito was down on one knee, holding a longsword like a pole instead of the halfsword position, hands at the edge of the blade and at the hilt. Von Iver was over him, gauntleted arm pushing into the blade. Same arm was holding a dagger that was dangerously close to Kirito's face, his other hand was on the dagger's pommel. Looking at their HP, _crap they both only had 5 HP left!_

"Stop fighting!' He pulled out the wide blue hide and his knife. "I'm going to cut it so we can just share it 50-50! Everyone wins!"

As if only noticing his existence, both swordsmen looked at the redhead. Their eyes widen as the knife went into the hide. "Nooo!" they both yelled.

Too late.

*Swip!*

The «Mama Boar Hide (Excellent)» vanished in a spray of polygons.

* * *

Asuna splashed water on her face from a nearby creek, feeling the water cooling her skin. The water didn't feel too much like water, it was a little on the thick side as if someone poured a bit of jelly into it.

They had been hunting down Boars for a few hours and it was an incredibly fun experience. The thrill of chasing one down, facing a charging Boar like those bull fighters in Europe and the feel of a weapon. She had been missing out in regards to fencing. First thing she'll do when her brother returns is asking him to teach how to fence. Wiping her wet face with her sleeves, she returned to her two guides.

Malik was sitting leaning back on a tree trunk, taking a quick nap. The old man was also under the tree, carving a branch into an arrow shaft with rapidness. It helped that Ridwan had put in points in Crafting beforehand. The girl joined them under the shade. Ridwan pulled out something from his pouch and threw it to the girl.

"That's a whetstone if you were wondering. Grind it on the edge of your blade." He said. Asuna unsheathed her rapier and just now noticed the nicks and bents in it. It looked utterly terrible. She got onto work on it immediately.

"So Asuna, on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate SAO?" he spoke in Japanese.

"Hmm. I don't think it's entirely fair to give a number to something so subjective. Instead we should use description to properly convey our message. If I were to describe SAO, I would say it's beautiful, fun, exciting, one of the things you should experience before the end of your life. It's _that _good." She explained like she would her assignments.

Ridwan laughed deeply at her answer. "Yes! Finally someone of the same mind! I don't think it's fair to use a number to judge a game as well. A 7 to someone might be good while to another it's average." He sighed. "Wished certain websites didn't use numbers to judge a game."

"I think regardless of what numbers or descriptions, I'm fairly certain this game would get very high marks from everyone." She looked down the blade and noticed the bent still remained. "Do you have some sort of hammer?"

"Oh no, I don't think you have the proper «Repair» skills for that. Best leave it to a smith." Ridwan took a large stone from nearby. He took out a chisel and began to work on an arrowhead.

She looked at the setting sun in the distance. Asuna briefly wondered if it was an actual sun with all the gasses needed or just a simple source of light and heat. She saw some sort of odd flying creatures flying behind the clouds. It took her breath away regardless.

"Kouichirou doesn't know what he's missing." Asuna answered before Ridwan could ask. "My brother, this is actually his Nerve Gear I'm wearing. He was too busy to get to play the game. He was so angry when he was called to an emergency meeting." She laughed.

"I truly pity him. Offer him my condolences." Ridwan turned his gaze onto the sun. "It's very pretty isn't it? I remember the sunset when beta ended. Knowing I can witness it every day, in this world, that brings me joy."

Asuna hummed in agreement. She gazed skyward and noticed something on the edge of her screen. 5.25 pm. Oh no.

"Oh no!" she stood up quickly. "It's almost seven and I'm still in the game! I have to get back home or kaasan will be very upset!" She turned to the two brothers. "I had a very fun day today. Perhaps we'll see each other tomorrow?"

"No problem. I might even consider moving to Japan just so I can play this game every day." He laughed. "Good bye, Asuna. I pray we'll see each other again."

"Good bye, sensei. Tell Malik-san I said goodbye too." She bowed and left.

Asuna walked back to the Starting City in order to go back to the real world. She then stopped and turned around; she had travelled quite a distance. She shouted at the archer. "Excuse me, Ridwan-san!"

"Yes?!" he shouted back.

"How do I get back to the real world?!"

"Look at your menu, logout button is at the bottom!" Now, she felt silly. She moved her fingers in the air and scrolled down. She was confused.

"Ridwan-san! There's no logout button!"

"Of course there is!" She could see him checking his menu. "It's right … here?"

Before she could ask further, a bell rung in the distance. A bright light consumed her and she felt herself disintegrating.

* * *

"Wunderbar! The sunset looks beautiful, does it not?"

"It sure is." Kirito agreed.

"Yup." Klein said glumly.

They were sitting on the roof of the barn that the two Japanese players were just in. After Klein destroyed the mini boss drop due to his insufficient Skinning skill, he bowed down and begged the two for forgiveness. The sincerity of his apology pulled the two out of their bloodlust and the two arch-rivals worked together to comfort the man. This wasn't something they both had in mind when they returned to Aincrad.

Both duelists were bandaged in many spots. They chewed on some green herbs which slowly increased their health regenerations. HP regenerates naturally but it was ever so slow to the point of being impractical. None of them had potions since those only appeared on the fifth floor and above. Like other things in SAO, even healing was somewhat realistic. They had to put ointment made of aroe vera leaves before putting on the bandages. It was fortunate that Helmuth had a medical kit on hand when he started the game. Both swordsmen at the point had their HP in the high 30s, soon reaching the lower 40s.

"You know, Herr Klein," the Specialist started. "It wasn't that good of a drop. Historically speaking, boar hides were not used to make armour. It is better had we just go around slaughtering cows. At least it would be easier and we can make better and more leather armour out of them."

"Yeah, I mean who wears Boar skin anyway? That's just silly." Kirito added.

"Well, you two were so deadest in murdering each other. I feel bad for making your duel meaningless."

"Unsinn! Kirito and I were trying to kill each other since the third floor! It is thanks to you that I've discovered our hostility is meaningless!"

"Yeah, Klein. You played peacemaker today. It's easy to kill people but making peace? That takes a lot of skill." The swordsman put his hand on Klein's shoulder. "You did good today."

"Thanks, I guess."

A more comfortable silence descended on the three and they continued gazing at the sunset. The sun was an orange hue, the clouds reflected the colour of the star ever so slightly. Klein never did see many sunsets, living between tall buildings. It was actually nice to just sit and relax, not worrying about his office job for once.

"It is getting late," Helmuth commented. The two looked at their clocks, 5.20 pm. "I have a meeting with someone tonight. The time in Japan moves so quickly!"

"Huh, 5.20 already? I better get home. It's my turn to cook dinner tonight." Kirito said.

"My teriyaki mayo pizza will arrive soon. I better get ready soon. I'm starving here." Klein had a lightbulb appear above his head at that moment. "Tell you what, Kirito, Helmuth. If you ever find yourself in the city, I'll treat you to pizza okay?"

"I want pepperoni." Kirito said.

"Ja, and I would like Hawaiian."

"I'll order two pizzas, how about that?" Klein said with a smile. "It's the least I could do." The two swordsmen agreed whole heartedly. They all shook hands and went to the logout button.

Before any of them could say anything, they heard the sound of a bell ringing. Their bodies were consumed by light and their physical avatars disintegrated into polygons.

* * *

15000 clueless players were teleported back to the plaza of the First City. Murmurs and questions were filling the entire city. The sky went crimson red and out of a black hole like portal, a figure emerged. It was a formless, faceless giant clad in intricate robes. In a voice that seemed to resonate from each players' head, it spoke:

**Attention players.**

**My name is Kayaba Akihiko.**

**Welcome to My world.**

* * *

**Special thanks to AugustianFrog and Levi Mathews for support and encouragement. You're the bestest buddies a guy can have on FF.**

**Well, that took longer than I expected. I expected 12k words, not 15k. Time flies when you're having fun. I was originally going to go through the speech for this chapter but decided it might be best that I cut off here.**

**Helmuth von Iver is derived from Helmuth von Molkter, a WW1 German general, considered the first true tactician of modern warfare. Another big thanks to Levi Mathews for the name.**

**In canon, SAO began on 6****th**** of November 2022. In the story, 15****th**** September. This is intentional.**

**The forums section while short was a blast to write. Spot the references if you can.**

**Yes, Japanese warriors halfsword their blades too.**

**There ARE mounts in canon, check episode 6.**

**I apologise for the info dumps between Klein and Kirito. I hope the action negates that feeling. Didn't even plan to throw in Mama Boar, it just happened really. The gameplay explanation in canon never satisfied me so I made new ones. Do tell if it's good or crap, I'm all ears. Think like game designers, readers.**

**No, I do not speak Japanese. Some of the terms are derived from certain websites, everything else was copy pasted from Google Translate. To anyone who actually speaks Japanese, do correct me either via PM or review. It is much appreciated.**

**I hope you enjoyed the interaction between all the characters. They were all enjoyable to write and I hope you enjoyed reading them. Kouichirou was surprisingly easy to write to be honest. I actually had more trouble with Suguha and Kazuto at the beginning before finding a way to actually begin their sparring. I hope you can see how Asuna is a total noob in the game, something portrayed rather well in canon as well as interacting with Malik and Ridwan. Also the duel between Helmuth and Kirito, that was really fun too.**

**If you're all wondering why a master swordsman is on par with a normal kendo practioner, it's because one, they roughly have the same stats. Two, they've fought each other like ten times already so both would have gotten used to each other's strength and weaknesses and maybe Kirito was a bit lucky and Helmuth did not take him as seriously. There's a lot of reasons but either way, Kirito was going to get a dagger in his eye had Klein not butted in. **

**A knight who trained all his life can die at the hands of a lowly pikeman or a stray arrow. A gamer who has mastered an FPS game can still die by the end of a grenade launcher. A Jedi can be sniped and etc. I at least hope you find the portrayal not immersion breaking.**

**Leave a review and I might update a wee bit faster. **_**Quid pro quo.**_** Until next time.**


	3. Death Game

**A short notice, I went back and fixed a few typos in the first two chapters as well as changed the name, City of Beginnings to The First City. Story reasons.**

**Oh, and sorry for the wait. Had a few bumps while making this one. Now then, onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Death Game

Murmurs and rumblings of confusion died down. People stopped what they were doing and looked up at the figure above them. The figure was undeniably the largest humanoid that Kirito had seen, even bigger than the statues of heroes and kings etched into the mountains around Aincrad. He spoke again, the voice booming in his head.

**I'm sure you've all noticed that the logout button is missing from your menu.**

**This is no error, this is an intended Design choice.**

"This …. wasn't in the briefing …" Von Iver muttered. Kirito and Klein looked at each other, worry visible in their eyes.

**Neither you nor anyone else from the Outside world can bring you out of Aincrad.**

**Should this be attempted, the Nerve Gear's transmitter will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and you with it.**

Shouts and gasp. Screams and cries. Demands and yells. It was so loud though not as deafening as the threat of actual death. Asuna covered her ears to no avail; the voice in her head kept talking.

**Unfortunately, several players' friends and family have ignored My warning and have attempted to remove the Nerve Gear.**

**Two hundred and forty seven players are now gone forever, from Aincrad and the real world.**

Klein could hear the sound of children crying. It was the most horrible sound he had ever heard.

**As you can see, news agencies worldwide are reporting this incident.**

**You can now be safe to assume that the attempt of forcibly removing the Nerve Gear is at a minimal.**

A hundred screens whirled around the figure. Every one of them showed some sort of news report on the nightmare. Malik could see comatose bodies being carried out of homes and hotels.

**Make no mistake, this is all real. This is no nightmare that you can wake up from. If your HP drops to zero, you will cease to Exist.**

**Also, I have enabled pain sensors. Now you will feel every cut, every bruise and every prick of pain every time you lose HP.**

Ridwan could spot a few former beta testers in the crowd. Their faces pale.

**There is only way to escape. Defeat the final boss on the 100****th**** floor and clear the game.**

**Right now, you may all be wondering, "Why?"**

"**Why would Kayaba Akihiko, the Creator of Sword Art Online would do this?"**

**My Goal has already been achieved.**

Goal?

**To Create this world and Intervene in it.**

What was he talking about?

**And now, it is complete.**

**Finally, I've left a little gift for all of you in your Inventory.**

**This ends the official launch ceremony for Sword Art Online.**

The Game Master spread his arm like a showman would, to the sickest form of amusement ever.

**Let the Death Game begin.**

The Game Master disappeared the same way he came appeared. A black hole sucked the robed figure in. In a few moments, the plaza lit up blindingly and as quickly as it came, the light disappeared. Suddenly, the world of Kayaba Akihiko became darker than it ever was before.

* * *

Helmuth von Iver, history professor at a prestigious university in Cloppenburg and Historical German Swordsmanship instructor, came into Aincrad looking like his prime. Young and athletic, immersing himself in virtual reality had remade him into a new man. He didn't even bother to create an avatar, he merely brought the age slider to 25 and left it at that.

Now, he had gained, or regained, 30 years of age. The small hand mirror displayed an old man with a wrinkly face. A reedy beard adorned his jaw; his hair became silver grey and thinner. Looking down, he noticed his physique was more befitting a man his actual age. His hands shook, threatening to drop Kayaba's 'gift'. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Swinging the arm holding the mirror, he noticed he still had some strength in him. Good, at the very least he felt young and not his age. His Stats he had made him on par with almost every other player.

"Who are you?!"

"Kirito, it's me, Klein!"

Before him were the two players he had rested with on a barn West of the Starting City. They somewhat resembled their avatars. Klein used to have smooth shoulder length pinkish hair and now he had unruly red hair that spiked in almost every direction. He didn't seem any much older or younger, taller or shorter, different than his avatar self, save the different hairstyle.

Kirito was very much an almost opposite. He had shrunk about three inches, his hair became shorter and the man he tried to murder repeatedly during the beta was actually a boy. A high school teen most likely. He looked rather feminine with the big brown eyes on a delicate face. Suddenly Helmuth felt nauseated. _This _was the person he had a grudge with? This _boy_?

"Where did Helmuth-san went?" Klein asked.

"I'm Helmuth!" He snapped, surprising the younger man.

"Wow, didn't know you were so old." Kirito commented, as if he were speaking of a new haircut.

"And I didn't know you're such a girly boy, so that makes us even then." He shouldn't be talking this way he realised, but Helmuth knew he was acting out of panic than spite. Not that his mouth was listening to his brain at the time.

Kirito frowned at his opinion and before he could retort, they heard glass shattering. Thousands of mirrors dropped from trembling hands. The crying of children intensified. A woman shrieked. The plaza fell into chaos. People were starting to yell and shout in mass. There were those who were moving their hands up and down as if to take off their Nerve Gears from inside the game.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" He grabbed Klein by the arm and led him to the nearest exit, Helmuth following moments later.

The three had exited the main plaza via the western exit. The older men were following the youngest of the group, their footsteps echoed loudly in the empty streets. After a few minutes of running, they had stop in a random alleyway. The sounds of panic and anger could still be heard in the plaza though dulled. This did nothing to calm any of them.

"I – I can't believe this." Klein said, his head hazy and stomach unwell. He felt like he was going to puke. Helmuth could hear his own heartbeat thumping loudly.

"Come with me to the next village," the youngest of the trio said. "If what Kayaba said was true, and I'm very much sure he is, then we need to level up as quickly as possible."

"Next village?" Klein asked. Kirito pulled out a paper map.

"It's a few kilometres away but if we're quick and careful, we can reach it before anyone else does." He drew his finger on the map, tracing a designated path. "If we're lucky, even with level 1 we can get there with minimal problems."

Kirito's logic was sound but something tugged at the back of the Specialist's mind. "Wait, surely we can wait for the authorities to get us out."

"Yeah, we should just wait and-"

"Do you really want to risk that?" the teenager stated, with more bitterness than needed. "Don't you see? This is no joke; we all need to get stronger! Sooner or later everyone else is going to go out and grind and where would that leave us?"

"The resources of an MMORPG are infinite …." Klein stated, colour returning to him.

"…. but, you are correct on that. There are no Instances in this game; the strong and quick will eventually dominate the fields, leaving no chance to others." Helmuth finished.

"So come with me. With the three of us, we can survive this." The adults before him were silent and deep in thought.

"Sorry Kirito but my friends are still back in the plaza." Klein broke the silence. "I can't just abandon them."

"You know that meeting I mentioned? A few of my colleagues, other Specialists, are supposed to be celebrating tonight." The German stated. "That means that they're stuck in that plaza as well. We best gather all the Specialists we can and figure this out properly."

It was Kirito's turn to be silent. He looked down solemnly at the ground. Helmuth just noticed how young the boy was. One moment he was taking charge, and now he looked he was being scolded at by his parents. He wondered if the boy had any other friends in the game.

"Oi Kirito, don't worry about it." A hand was placed on the boy's shoulder from a smiling Klein. "I've been the leader of my own guild in past games. I can handle myself thanks to your lessons."

"I've been in beta longer than you, boy. We Specialists can handle ourselves. You do what you think is best."

Looking slightly more comfortable, Kirito addressed the two. "Well, in that case … goodbye you two."

He turned his back on them only to be stopped by Klein once again. "Kirito!" The teen turned around to see a menu in front of Klein. A Friend Invite, and then another from Helmuth. He pressed **«****Ye****s»**for both of them.

"Wait! It's dangerous to go alone, take this." Before being able to say anything, the old man threw something at him to which he caught. His «Medical Kit». Kirito looked at him wide eyed and the old man merely gave him a thumbs up.

Kirito clipped the pouch on his belt and nodded in thanks, "So long, Samurai. Schwertkämpfer."

He turned and ran deeper into the alley, disappearing around a corner.

"I guess we better start heading back to the plaza." Klein said. At that moment, the older of the two received a PM.

"Once you do that, meet me in front of Black Iron Castle." The Specialist stated.

The two were already making the way back to the plaza. "Oh, you want to me join my guild? I guess we can spare a spot for you, old man."

"We really don't have time for that. There are more pressing matters at hand. Something bad is happening right now." Helmuth picked up the pace and ran faster, followed by Klein. "Something very bad."

And don't call me old."

* * *

He was running. Running as fast as his legs could carry him. The village of Horunka was about ten kilometres away. If he leg it as fast as possible, he could possibly make it within an hour plus, before nightfall. Monsters were much more powerful during the night. Aincrad was a very large world. The first floor alone was 40 kilometres in radius. There was enough land to put in forests, rivers, dozens of villages and mountains at the edges. And all of it was detailed to the near microscopic level.

Kirito could see in the corner of his eye, a pack of wolves in the distance. Their black silhouettes contrasted against the orange sky. He was far enough outside Boar territories to encounter Wild Wolves but he didn't expect them to appear so early. There were five of them; one of them was much larger than the other. No doubt the large one was the Pack Leader, the Alpha. The wolves were outrunning him; he could see two of them were running ahead while another two were running back, coming in from behind. There was no way around this; he had to stand his ground.

Unsheathing his longsword, Kirito turned around to deal with the flankers. They were closing in. One of the wolves came up faster than the other, its jaws foaming ready to tear his throat out. Before he was going to allow it the chance to even open its jaws, he rushed forward, blade pointed down. Closing the distance, Kirito shoved his sword upwards and strike the animal in the throat, killing it instantly. The other was about ready to pounce him; it jumped at him and flew high. Kirito sidestepped the wolf's jaws and it missed, he immediately shoved his blade into the spine. The wolf let out a pain yelp and then a howl as he twisted the blade viciously.

The swordsman turned around and saw the other two wolves already coming at him at full speed. They were closer than expected and Kirito cursed for taking too long to deal with the first two. Like before, one wolf came faster than the other but instead of leaping, it ran at him full speed likely to ram him. Kirito swung his blade horizontally putting his entire body into work. The blade was able to slice the neck and the wolf fell down to the side dead.

Something heavy knocked into him and he could feel the air being forced out of his lungs. The wolf was atop of him and it had is jaws ready to bite its prey. Panicking, Kirito blocked the animal's bite with his arm. A white hot pain filled his body as the sharp jagged teeth buried itself into his limb. It was painful enough to almost knock him out. He could barely see his health bar slowly depleting from the wolf's bite. The leather gloves he wore did nothing to prevent the pain.

Thinking quickly, he withdrew the dagger from his belt and plunged it into the wolf's side. Kirito pulled the blade down and he could see glowing blood spilling from the wolf's guts. He pulled his arm aside, jerking the wolf away from his face and plunged the dagger into the stomach. It stopped moving and died mouth still chomped in his limb. Pushing the corpse off, he rubbed his arm for comfort. It was the most painful thing he had ever experienced. Worse than the time he fell off his mountain bike and broke his leg. Inspecting his right arm, he could see the glove had holes and still had blood on it. He could even spot a particularly large fang embedded on his wrist.

By the time the player rose, the Apha was there on the road eying him with glowing red eyes. It was bigger than the previous wolves, about a quarter larger. Its fur was wildly unkempt, its teeth showing despite the closed mouth and the growling rumbled thunderously in the empty fields. He spotted his HP, 32 left. Back when he was in the plaza he had about 40 plus. There was no time to patch up using Helmuth's medical kit. The Alpha's large physique seemed to block the entirety of the dirt road, challenging the player to get through it.

No way around, only through. Kirito readied himself in a duelling stance and the Alpha crouched low head aimed at the other, as if the AI mob understood him. Kirito placed his backfoot further back, the Alpha crouched lower head almost touching the ground.

They both charged, four legs coming in faster than two. Kirito readied his longsword for a strike through its neck. The Alpha opened its mouth teeth barring. At eight meters, he had just noticed that his left was still holding the dagger in an icepick position. Five meters left, he found out that he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Two meters left, his mind focused not on the battle but to his sister.

"_Sugu, I'm so sorry."_

One meter left.

The Alpha leaped and Kirito swung his blades.

* * *

At the moment Ridwan and Malik left the plaza, the older brother received a PM. It went: "Attention all journalists, developers and Specialists. Gather at Black Iron Castle main hall as soon as you can. – Thinker."

And now here they were.

Black Iron Castle had become a hive of activity. In the castle's main hall, hundreds were gathered together, packed tight enough that shoulder met shoulder. Ridwan and Malik were standing up front, close enough they could reach and touch the risen platform that was reserved for speakers. Ridwan was familiar with the hall; this had not been the first time he had been here. The Hall had been the prime meeting place for reporters and people on the development team. It was usually used for discussion of gameplay mechanics, bug reports and interviews. They usually did so at a table but tables and chairs were conspicuously absent at the moment.

Looking around, Ridwan didn't recognise any of these people. Of course he didn't, everyone here had now reverted to their real life selves. Many that were young and fit had become less so. He could see grown men wearing female clothes. The only clear opposite that he knew of was himself. He wondered where that Asuna girl went; he prayed that she was okay. He cursed himself when he forgot to add her to his Friends List.

A Japanese man walked up on the stage. He was of average height, with curly brown hair and carried himself with an air of authority. He looked not much different from his avatar, Ridwan thought, with the only difference was he no longer had an outrageous afro on him. That was most likely for the best; he didn't think anyone would take him very seriously if that was the case. A small part of him thought he couldpossibly pull it off considering who he was.

The man up front cleared his throat and spoke in a loud, clear voice. "Attention everyone! Attention!" The rumblings of the crowd quiet down and everyone turned to the speaker.

"Hello everyone. My name is Thinker. We have a problem."

"No shit!" a chubby British man yelled out. "This has to be some sort bloody joke, right? Because it's not funny!"

"I have a meeting tomorrow morning!" someone with a thick Indian accent said.

"My show is coming on!" a Japanese player called out.

The hall erupted into chaos, no different from the one outside. Despite only housing hundreds at the moment, it was just as loud due to the confined nature at the hall. Most players that bought the Nerve Gear and SAO were teenagers according to the statistics, meaning that most players in the hall were adults. They acted no different than the prebuscents and children outside. A person like Thinker could be logical and reasonable. People on the other hand aren't. He was getting a huge headache just by being in the room.

Despite Thinker's best efforts to shout over the crowd, it just made the situation louder and rowdier. He could barely hear him demanding silence and calm from the crowd, Ridwan could also hear others doing the same. His brother had joined in the futile efforts to quiet the hall. It reminded him of high school when the good students were trying to outyell the not so good students.

Suddenly, a voice boomed.

"**QUIEEEET!"**

The hall became so.

Standing at the front besides Thinker was a tall woman, with long black hair tied in a ponytail. A long oval face was framed by neatly cut fringes. Sharp blue eyes stared dangerously into the crowd. Though she wasn't looking at anyone in particular, she had been able to freeze everyone, including Ridwan himself, to the ground.

"Look at yourselves! Acting like a bunch of children!" She scolded in fluent English.

"There are players outside," she pointed at the hall doors, "screaming their heads off! Children, teenagers, lost and breaking down!"

"And here you are, with your thumbs up your asses, arguing about your own personal problems!" She said in a mocking tone, "I have a meeting! I have to go to work! Well boo hoo!"

Someone in the back coughed.

"I'm told that this hall was reserved for journalists and Specialists. I don't know what you all exactly do but I'm assuming you all have more experience with the game than most players out there. And it seems only one of you has the balls to actually do something about it."

"So you all better shut the hell up and listen to this Thinker guy here!" She pointed to the man besides her.

Realising that 'the Thinker guy' was him, Thinker composed himself and addressed the loud woman. "Er … well, thank you, miss …."

"Yulier."

"Miss Yulier." He turned his gaze back to the crowd. "What we need to do is figure out how to approach the situation we're now facing."

"Was Kayaba telling the truth? Can we even take him seriously?" Someone asked. People looked at each other hoping for an answer. The reply came from a Japanese player in his 30s raising his hand.

Thinker urged him. "Please, speak up."

"I came here with three other friends, we were all beta testers. One of them died fighting one of those Boars about an hour in. Players who die usually revive in the Resurection Room, right? Well, he didn't respond to any of our PMs. We assumed he logged off or something. But when we were teleported back to the plaza, well, I don't think they were any doubts what happen to him."

They were pats on the shoulder from the player's remaining party members. Yulier said, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"If I may?" an old man in his sixties raised his hand. "My name is Nishida Saito of Tohto Broadband Connection. We were in charge of network connection for the game."

"Is what Kayaba said true? What would happen if the Internet got cut?" asked Thinker.

Nishida touched the bridge of his nose to adjust his non-existent glasses. He didn't seem to notice. "The Nerve Gear has an in-built wifi connector. Best case scenario is that even if our real bodies were to be moved, we would still be connector to the servers."

"And worst case scenario?" Everyone listened intently.

"Lag. We would move slower, our bodies stop moving. If we're all in towns, maybe nothing bad might happened since the risk is very minimal. But the ones outside adventuring … I don't know."

Ridwan never once experienced lag during the beta, owing to being close to one of the servers and that his rented apartment had very good connection. Despite that, he knew others have. Slow reaction time resulted in an untimely demise. Glitches allowed players to exploit the game like duplicating items. Enemy attacks went through walls. The list went on though it had been considerably shortened during the game's final stages. SAO was a technical masterpiece but it wasn't perfect.

Thinker was silent, brows furrowed in thought, hand over mouth. After a while, he said, "Alright everyone, here's what we're going to do. We're going to split into teams …"

It was a fairly complex process. There were roughly 400 plus people in the hall. Sword Art Online released the beta to 1500 players and Argus hired 500 outside specialists to help with the game and another 500 journalists to do the previews. Ridwan wasn't even sure how many of the 400 here are even beta testers, the Yulier woman clearly wasn't. Regardless, they all had a clear plan. 300 players divided into groups of 10 were to go around telling people to calm down and bunker down at the nearest inn.

The other 100, split into 2 teams were to go outside the City to help whatever players that needed help. If the Death Game was true, the newbies would need all the help they can get. The man went around the crowd to confirm their team leaders. He stopped to look at him. "Do I know you?"

"Thinker, man. It's me, Ridwan." He answered.

Thinker shook his head. "I'm sorry Ridwan, having trouble differentiating you and old man you." Malik snickered.

"You were the raid leader for two boss fights, right? Ridwan nodded an affirmative. "All right, you're the leader. Don't argue with me. Here's what I need you to do." Thinker told the group about his plan of sending patrols outside the city and having the two large teams split off to guard the three gates. The idea was to prevent them from running off into danger and getting themselves killed.

"Everyone got it?" Nodding heads from the hundred players. Complete strangers working side by side. It reminded Ridwan of the times he was in parties. After twenty minutes of affirming and making sure everyone understood the plan, Thinker returned to the platform.

"All right everyone! Let's get to work!"

* * *

Asuna woke when the rays of the sun shined on her face. She rose to get herself ready. Her second semester was going to begin soon. It was time she reread her books again. Stretching and yawning to her satisfaction, she went to the study desk for a quick read.

She then noticed that the room she was not her large wide bedroom but a much smaller one. The walls were made of wood and lacked the bright white and pink wallpaper. The floor was also made of the same the wall was. Not soft fuzzy carpet under each step. The bed she woke up from wasn't a king sized bed, but piles of hay that was neatly arranged in small stacks with a sheet of cloth drabbed over it.

Realisation dawned upon her. Asuna screamed.

On the second day, she had stayed in her room on her bed unmoving. She stayed that way well into dawn until sleep took her over.

She woke at dusk the next day. When her stomach grumbled, she headed downstairs to eat dressed in her normal clothes. Asuna ordered one of the more expensive things on the menu, a steak, a large slice of goat cheese and pot of tea. She was 150 Col poorer after that and hid herself in her room until the next day but at least she had large jug of water for herself.

On the fourth day, she ordered two loaves of bread. They were plain but filling. She ordered another dozen and that all lasted a good while.

On the fifth day, Asuna saw a group of children being herded by a woman with properly equipped players escorting them. It was nice someone was giving a care about the kids.

On the seventh day, she took her first step outside. The sun was hot and intimidating, she retreated into the inn. At midnight, she heard someone say, "Coward." Asuna slept with four extra candles lit the following nights.

On the eight day, she decided to take a walk, sun be damned. The streets were filled with people who sat about doing nothing. Desperation was written on their faces. She returned to the inn more miserable than ever.

On the ninth day, Asuna heard the news of a hundred people jumping off Aincrad, on the southern edge of the city. They never came back. "Cowards", the voice said. Perhaps they were.

On the tenth day, she recalled she had to go back to college at some point. She wrote down all her notes on a piece of parchment, trying to recall as much of her education as possible.

On the eleventh day, she heard rumours from other players at the inn that there was going to be levelling parties. Asuna thought them brave and foolish. But one thing for sure, they weren't cowards.

On the twelfth day, she took out her rapier out of her Inventory. Asuna practiced the moves she had learned from Ridwan (she wondered what happened to him) and tried to recall the moves Kokuichiro did. The blade was bent and unbalanced. Frustrated, she placed it on the table and gave up.

On the thirteenth day, she spent the whole time rereading her notes. All the time her rapier mocked her, the bent blade drove her up the wall, so not straight and imperfect. She hated when everything wasn't the way it should be. Asuna did her best to ignore it by focussing more. She was not successful.

On the fourteenth day, Asuna dreamt of faceless people, pointing and laughing at her, calling her out for being cravenness. The faceless strangers spoke in her peers', mother's, father's and brother's voices. It was the final straw. She went outside that afternoon to face the dangers Aincrad had to offer.

She had to escape, even if that cost her own life.

* * *

"So did you hear?" A chubby player asked.

"About what?" The thinner of the two said.

"The mass suicides. Two days ago."

Her ears perked up under her hood.

"Of course I do. Everyone knows about it."

It was the biggest news they've had in a while. About a hundred players, some said more, had jumped off the edge of the city. They've gotten tired of waiting it seemed. They were led by some player who had a 'very important meeting'. She didn't see it herself, only heard about it from second hand sightings.

"No, but I bet this is something you haven't heard." _Oh?_ She took a bite off her sliced cheese.

"So get this," the chubby one began, "you know what happens when someone dies? They just fall dead, right? Not these days. Shiny colourful polygons would come out from their eyes and mouth. It's the way the soul comes out I hear."

She had yet to see someone die. In the beta, when you die you just fall down dead. But Kayaba put those polygons in like some sort of sick joke. Death is beautiful in Aincrad she heard someone said. She thinks that someone needs a mental check.

"I don't believe in souls. Get to the point."

"I heard from a guy when you jump off Aincrad, your body shatters into polygons. It's the system's way of making sure your body doesn't get stuck anywhere and your body gets returned to the Room of Resurection. But that was in the beta. When those hundred people jump off, their bodies didn't shatter."

The other player was silent for a few moments. "Meaning …"

The storyteller slapped his own forehead. "Meaning that their bodies just fell into the trees below. No polygons."

"The world below Aincrad, the underworld, is solid."

The world under the Castle of Aincrad was an actual place? _That _wasn't in the beta. Another level maybe? Unlike what most believe, there were in fact more than a hundred floors. Anyone could point at the floating islands just off Aincrad would have sufficient proof. But she couldn't confirm that those islands were levels, no one ever reached those islands in the beta.

"No way." A look of disbelief.

"Way." He grinned.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Some gaijin American. Tall, blue eyes, blonde hair. I forgot his name. Said his brother is that Reed One guy who was at the jumpings. The storyteller scratched his chin. "I think those two were with Thinker's group."

"_Oh, Ree-don. You didn't tell me you had a brother." _Argo thought. Finishing the last of her goat cheese, she patted her hands. If people found out Argo enjoyed eating cheese, she would never hear the end of it.

"Fascinating." The tone of his voice indicated he wasn't fascinated at all. "So did you hear about this new shop that just opened?" The other player was talking about someplace to eat. Argo didn't care about eavesdropping on their conversation anymore but kept that tidbit of information for now. She herself had someone to meet. Quickly typing a message to Ridwan, she was off.

Her walk turned into a jog and then into a run. She leap off the red tiled roof and flew a good two meters before grabbing to a window sill. Her fingers dug hard into the wood, the gloves providing some protection from the fiction. Argo pulled herself up and carefully tiptoed on said window sill. Jumping carefully, she grabbed onto a pipe railing and manuevered herself up onto the roof.

Argo ran, swift and graceful like a cat. She jumped down to a lower building and rolled, never losing momentum. Her HUD beeped, notifying her that she had received a reply. It was from Ridwan. She opened it and as expected, he agreed to meet her.

The rat grinded to a stop, almost falling off the edge. Both Ridwan and Kirito had warned her not to read PMs while running on rooftops. Yeah, and those two regularly went outside of the city. The very _very_ few who went out to fight monsters and grind. Who were there to tell her to not run around on roofs like some crazy parkour artist? The runner backed away a bit before jumping off to another window sill.

Of course, they were warning her to be careful because they cared. She had already met the real Ridwan, she had yet to meet the real Kirito. She wondered how he looked like. Maybe he was tall and handsome as his avatar was. Or maybe he was a fat teen with too an acne problem. She prayed that wasn't it. Argo grabbed onto a clothes line between two buildings and swung herself to a nearby statue of a baby angel on the corner of a rooftop.

The afternoon sun was tame in Aincrad what with the floor above partially blocking it. Despite that, the rays of light hit the dome of Black Iron Castle just right. The information broker slowed her pace as the light shined in her face. She angled herself properly before launching off the roof to a nearby tree. Wide open palms grabbed on the thick tree branch and the leaves rustled. She gently let herself down and looked around. No leaves fell and no one saw her. Good, she was getting better at this.

She walked across the plaza under the afternoon sun. This had been the first time she had been around here since the Death Game. Suddenly nervous, Argo looked up and expected to see the figure of Kayaba Akihiko looming above her.

He wasn't there. She let out a breath that she didn't realise that she had been holding it.

Arriving at the front of the castle, noticing absent guards, she pushed the doors open.

* * *

The door swung opened with a bang. The figure in the sleeping bag jumped into the air a good inch before landing.

"How many times have I told you to knock?" Von Iver asked while rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"So far, 22 times." The intruder said, smiling. Helmuth glared at him.

The intruder was a man in his thirties. Thin but fit, he stood a few centimetres shorter than the German. His crown bore a mop of black hair and he had a thin moustache above his lips. Dark brown narrow eyes and high cheekbones indicated a mixed of Asian heritages. Though Helmuth couldn't narrow down which genes he specifically inherited, he was clearly part Chinese. His clothes were white in contrast to Helmuth's red and he had a xian on his hip.

"You counted? Have you nothing better to do, Shen?" the Specialist stood up and stretched. He couldn't hear old bones cracking back into place. Only his image was old, fortunately the game could not replicate (or did not wish to) the many bodily benefits of old age. He creased his tunic in an effort to unwrinkle it.

"I just finished reading in the library, now I'm bored. Let's go get some brunch." Hwang Shen said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Equipping his weapons and armour, the two left Von Iver's room. It was really more of an empty office turned into makeshift bedroom. There were a lot of empty side rooms in Black Iron Castle. Most of the players that gathered to help calm the turmoil on the first day slept anywhere they can in the castle, using the time honoured traditions of calling dibs. Von Iver was lucky enough to acquire one that was relatively clean small room save, a few cobwebs and dust. Hwang Shen chose to sleep in a nearby inn.

They walked through the busy halls of Black Iron Castle. There were players walking, talking, running and overall working. They passed the training field where Yulier was barking orders to a group of players. Most likely sending another round of patrols to grind for loot and money. Helmuth thought the woman was a bit too strict (she carries a whip for goodness' sake) but she had the ability to maintain discipline while Thinker made plans and no one doubts her effectiveness and dedication. He wondered if she was military in real life.

"So, where are we going this fine day?"

"I do not know. You are the one who dragged me out of bed. I was planning to sleep in."

"It's already 11.30."

"Could have at least allowed me to sleep until 12."

Shen snapped his fingers. "Ah! We can go to the shop at …"

The Specialist let the other Specialist prattle on the different ideas where to have brunch. By this point, he had already named four different restaurants. How he had the time to visit all these places Helmuth had no idea. Shen was just as busy as he and the others who had tried to help everyone during the first few days.

The two exited the castle into the late morning sun. The plaza had a few people lingering around. The plaza was as always nowadays, empty. Most players still coop up in their rooms or lingered in the streets like beggars. Many had sold off most of their equipment save the clothes on their back to buy food. The ones who were active had already gone off to other towns and villages. Players who dared to adventure were either respected, hated or dead.

"So, which one?"

"I beg your pardon?" Helmuth was snapped from his thoughts. Shen sighed.

"Do you want pancakes or roti canai?"

"That other one, I've never had any of it." He decided absentmindedly, wondering if it was some sort of exotic food like frog legs.

"Oh, you'll love it! And we'll have some sweet tea to wash it down with."

By the time they reached a corner, they stumbled upon a girl sitting under a tree. She was sitting down with a mat in front of her. Said mat contained a multitude of tools from hammers to a small anvil. The smith girl wasn't doing anything other than staring off into blank space. The girl was a Japanese teenager with a mop of brown hair and equally brown eyes. She spotted the two Specialists and waved.

"Hello misters! Come to Lisbeth!" She gestured to sign simply stating 'Lisbeth's'. "Please take a look!" The way she said it sounded rehearsed and Helmuth was sure she didn't actually speak any English. The two walked

Shen rubbed his chin and smiled. "Hmm. Not bad. Did you make all this yourself?" he gestured to the few knives and daggers on display. It took a few moments for the girl to reply.

"Yes, I made all weapons …. myself!" She answered. It was a lie.

"Really? Well then, I'd like a custom knife if you would not mind." The girl opened her mouth and shut it before continuing.

"Custom knife?" She pronounced the words in a heavy accent.

"Yes. Don't worry; I'll describe it for you." Shen put a finger in the air and used it to draw his ideal knife.

"I want the knife blade to be about 20 cm long. The tip point a curve, like a kitchen knife would be. The curved edge I'd say about 4.5 cm in length, I'm sure you can do the math. The false edge of the blade has a serrated edge. I want ten tips of them with a length of 5 mm in between. The serrated parts from the hand guard 1.5cm away. The true edge, I'd like the centre of weight about the middle point where the curved and straight part meets so I can get a little oomph if I ever need to hack with it. The hand guard by the false edge is curved pointed upwards and outward, not inward. The true edge curves downward where it meets the stirrup guard. I like the handle to be oh, as long as my fist here, about 9 cm long just in case I wear a glove. Oh speaking of glove, make sure the stirrup guard is wide enough to accommodate that. So about 2 cm in width? Yeah, I think that works. The pommel should be the size of a Col coin. The handle I want to be hollowed so I can put things in it. Lastly, the stirrup I want to have some blunt points so I can turn it to a brass knuckle if I need to. Did you catch what I'm saying, Lisbeth?"

Lisbeth blinked dumbly before saying a flat "What?"

"Stop teasing the girl, Hwang." Von Iver scolded. "And what kind of a knife is that? It sounds like a terrible mix of a trench knife and a spadroon's handle. A hollow hilt would just make it less Durable. You are better off using the generic daggers and shortswords."

Shen ignored his friend. "So can you make it?"

"Uh …." The smith blushed, suddenly looking for something, most likely a piece of paper. "Can mister say again?"

"I'm kidding, relax." The Chinese man said in Japanese. He unclipped his hunting knife and handed it to her. "It's a bit dull so mind sharpening it?" He took off his left leather bracer. "Also this thing's almost broken. Got bitten by a Boar, didn't even know they could attack by biting."

"Yes, yes. I can do that!" Lisbeth said, more comfortable in her native tongue. "I'll have to find some more leather for the bracer though. I'm sure I can get it from the NPC merchants. But uh …"

"How much?"

"50 for the sharpening. I might need 20-30 to get some leather." The girl stated all business-like.

Shen manipulated his menu and sent her 80 Col. "You can have another 20 if you do it real good."

"Deal!" She said excitedly. Lisbeth grabbed a small grindstone and pedalled the contraption with a finger, steady hands held the hunting knife in place. "This shouldn't take too long, maybe half an hour. Come back by then, Mister …"

"Shen. The old man here is Helmuth. We'll come by after breakfast."

"Don't call me old."

"Of course. See you then." The girl never took her eyes of the blade. She was going to make a decent smith if she kept it up. The two left the teen to her work.

"She had a grindstone." The professor began. "That must have been very expensive."

"And she didn't have much equipment from what I saw. Of course, I didn't browse through her menu so I wouldn't know." Most merchants, NPC and player alike, tended to show off their best gear on sale. The generic weapons she had on sale indicated not much business.

"The cost of **«****Merchant's**** Mat»** cost about 500. I think that wheel cost about 100 plus. She must have spent most of her money on that thing."

"At least she works for her Col. Unlike most people who beg on the streets."

The two were quiet for a moment before the younger spoke up. "We can send her to Lorenzo."

"Emile's a strict man. He wouldn't accept her."

There had been talk about a guild of getting together players who were doing nothing to work on their «Crafting» skill. Emile Lorenzo was an Italian smith, the foremost expert of European arms and armour. He along with Matthew Percival, Tseng Lei, Faisal Ahmad, Safal Rajat, Masao Keiji were the experts in their own fields with Lorenzo heading the guild. They still had some difficulties getting supplies and finding space to expand their workshops. The crafters could use some extra hands.

"I'll call in a few favours then." He said more firmly. "Percival owes me one."

"Why so caring, Shen? She's but one girl."

The Specialist sighed. "…. I'll tell you if you promised not to laugh."

An understanding nod. "You have my word."

"She … reminds me of my daughter." He cupped his face with one hand. "They're the same age and …"

"No, no. I understand." Helmuth said nothing else, compteplating on his own family. He wondered what his children were doing. Tobias, Erica, Selene. All either working back in Germany or staying at his side in some hospital along with thousands of others. He pushed the morose thoughts to the back of his head. No point in depressing himself.

They stayed silent until the two reached their destination. A restaurant, if it could be called that, consisting of a few tables, a cooking stall with a merchant behind it, situated on a sparse park. It was surrounded by similar restaurants of its kind.

"You're buying this time." The younger of the two said, as if the previous conversation never happened. The two men went to a table and ordered their meal.

* * *

Kirito eyed his lunch, dinner and next day breakfast from atop a tree.

The deer was grazing at the base of another similar tree, unaware of its predator stalking it. The hunter adjusted himself in a more proper position. The throwing spear in his hands was unwieldy and awkward, the shaft threatening to rustle the leaves and alert the prey. He scootched to the middle branch as stealthily as possible to get a better view.

A branch cracked.

The deer snapped its head back surveying its surroundings. The hunter froze, his heart skipped a beat.

Spotting no visible predator, the animal returned to its eating.

The player let out a silent 'whew' and prepared himself for the attack. He switched the spear to his left hand, his right stretched outward. Aiming with his right eye, a crosshair appeared just over the deer's belly. Kirito pulled his arm back, held his breath and let the spear flew. It stuck into the tree behind the deer. The deer bolted off in a flash.

"Damn!" he cursed, forgetting to compensate for the arc. A noob mistake.

Kirito dropped down from the tree, taking the fall damage and pain in stride. He sprinted after his lunch/dinner/breakfast, hoping to catch it before it went too far. He activated his **«****Tracker's Sight****»** and spotted the deer's footprints glowing. The hunter gave chase, feet crunching loudly on leaves. He had been tracking the deer since dawn; no way was he going back to eating that cheap bread. Kirito was a growing young man, he needed real meat.

He spotted the deer hopping over a log and sprinted faster, pushing the limits of **«AGI»** stat. Kirito continued this chase for a good two minutes, almost losing track of it twice. Then, there it was, in a wide clearing. He took his hunting knife and prepped himself for the tackle.

There was the sound of wood clacking and the deer wheezed loudly, stumbling. Kirito skidded to a halt. The beast struggled wildly, throwing dirt and leaves everywhere. The deer's back left foot was stuck into the ground. Clearly there was a trap buried in there somewhere. The deer looked at its foot and then its hunter. It lowered itself to the ground and the swordsman wondered if the creature could bite him.

"Hey there, little guy. Nice and easy now. I'm not going to hurt you." It was pointless to talk to a virtual being like this but Kirito did so anyway, more to comfort himself than the deer. If he could just aim for the throat and slice it quick and cleanly ….

The player readied himself again for the kill until he felt something poking his back.

"Hold it right there." A voice ordered. "Drop your knife." Ah, damnit.

Kirito tried to turn his head around ever so slightly trying to catch a glimpse of his ambusher. He was gifted with a harder poke to his spine.

"Drop. The. Knife." The voice said again. Kirito just then noticed it was a woman's voice.

"Okay, okay. I'm dropping it." He dropped the knife and spun.

Swiping away the weapon with his arm, Kirito lunged at his assailant. With a punch to the temple or a palm under the chin, he could stun her long enough to …

A bolt glanced off Kirito's shoulder pad. The metal plate underneath the cuir bouilli gave that part of the body a high enough «Damage Threshold» to deflect the missile and save him the HP loss. It was however strong enough to throw him off balance. He planted firm feet into the ground, preventing him from stumbling.

Another bolt buried itself in his breast plate, just below where his heart would be. A figure dashed at him raising something and slammed it in his stomach. The blunt damage and force behind the blow hurt a lot. Kirito keeled over and collapsed to the earth. The woman planted a foot on his chest and levelled her crossbow at him. He looked at the hunter, most of her torso hidden under a large green cloak, her face hidden behind a piece of cloth over her mouth. Just behind him, he could spot a particularly long tree branch that she used to poke him.

"No funny business or I'll shoot your face." Her words were cold as her eyes.

"What was that?"

"Huh?" Her face adopted a confused look.

"How did you shoot two bolts so fast?" The female hunter blinked at him, perplexed. As if she didn't just shoot him twice and slammed the butt of her crossbow into his stomach. She shook her head.

"That's none of your business. Now, get away from my deer."

Now it was Kirito's turn to become angry. "Your deer? I've been hunting it since 6am!"

"Well it got stuck in _my _trap ergo, it belongs to me." To drive her point, she stepped on him harder. He lost one HP for that.

"Okay," he relented. "I'll leave you and your deer alone … _if_ you tell me where you got that crossbow."

Neither he nor anyone else had even seen such a weapon. It must have been from a quest that no one but her has discovered yet. Either the quest was new or this girl in front of her was a beta tester. There was a high chance that Kirito wasn't going to use it or just have it as a backup weapon. But players would pay a lot of money for what he assumed was a repeating crossbow.

"Or how about you run away and I don't kill you?"

"You wouldn't dare." He challenged.

"Who says Kayaba was serious? You might wake up in a hospital room."

"The fact you're out here questing implies that you took it seriously." He smirked. "You won't kill me." Her eyes hardened but her crossbow wavered just a bit. This was his chance.

Grabbing onto the crossbow, he pushed it away from him. As expected, she shot her bow and the bolt went into the ground, mere centimetres away from his head. Kirito swiped his leg against hers and she bent down to keep herself standing. Latching on her collar, he pulled. With a planted a foot on her stomach and using all his strength, he flipped her over. The girl landed back first onto the leafy forest floor.

Kirito jumped to his feet. He twirled and pulled out his longsword, intending to kill the deer before it broke free. He found himself on the floor again as a hand seized his foot. The other player was looking at him with dangerous eyes. The swordsman aimed a kick at her head but she dodged it. She pulled a knife from her side and did a clumsy stab into his thigh. The blade managed to only scratch and open a tear in his trousers. The beta tester bit his lip in an effort to ignore the pain.

Deciding wrestling on the ground was pointless, the girl stood up and went for the deer. Kirito pushed himself up only to fall immediately back to the ground. His scratched foot was numb and unmoving. He looked at the «Status Effects» under his health bar, a grey swirl confirmed that he was «Paralysed». Unthinking, he threw his sword at her. The blade hit her pommel first in her knee and she bended over.

The deer had managed to break free from the trap. It ran with a limp but it ran fast enough. By the time the arbalist had recovered, it was already out of her sight.

"Idiot!" she yelled. "You damn idiot!" She turned to him. "Why did you do that?!" At some point both her hood and bandana had dropped, giving him a good look of her face.

She was young, he would have guessed she was roughly his age. A dirty oval face framed with messy black hair, no doubt from wearing that cloak of her all the time. Piercing brown eyes stared daggers at him, her small mouth curled into a frown. Kirito would have described her as cute under different circumstances. _Wait, why am I thinking about this now of all sudden?_

"Well?!" she asked through gritted teeth. Other than "If I can't have it, neither can you", he had no other answer that resulted in him not getting stab or shot. Kirito could only open his mouth dumbly, no answer coming out.

The huntress huffed in frustration. She pulled a knob by the side of her large crossbow. A small compartment revealed at the bottom. She loaded three bolts she retrieved from under her cloak into the compartment and slap it shut. Rotating the winch situated at the left side with visible effort, the bow string pulled back and a bolt appeared on the bolt rest. He could see her brown eyes glow for a second before she ran off in the direction of the deer.

The swordsman stood up on his good leg using his sword as a makeshift cane. A few minutes of searching and hobbling around, he found a small patch of **«****Juniper Berries****»** near the tree where his throwing spear was stuck in. Kirito chewed on the berries for a few seconds and swallowed, the «Paralysed» status effect disappeared. The player climbed up the tree he was in minutes ago and retrieved his backpack.

Kirito spent the next hour foraging for more «Juniper Berries» and other anti-poison ingredients. He was also fortunate to be able to capture a couple of unfortunate hares. The swordsman returned to Horunka, wondering if he'll ever meet the Huntress again.

* * *

She came, silent and sudden, and snatched his food.

"Hello, Ree-don. Is that lemon bread? Thanks, I could use some." She stuffed herself with the delicious bread. His open mouth realising the food that would never come, shut.

"Oh please, take my food that I was just about to eat from me unexpectedly. It's not like I mind or anything." Ridwan pulled his meagre tray of food further away from the Rat.

The two were situated at the end of a long table in the Castle's canteen. The large hall contained six very long tables with accompanying branches. Despite the size, there weren't very many people at the moment. Other than the two and another half a dozen people in the canteen, the place was rather empty.

"Ah! That hit the spot." She exclaimed, munching on the last of her (his) bread. She clasped her hands in the way she usually did when conducting business and Ridwan mentally prepared himself for whatever thing she was about to say. She began, "I need you and some of your men for a job."

"Sorry, can't help." He shrugged. "I've got too much work on my hands right now. Well not now, today's my day off and I intend to enjoy it. And our players are busy as it is. We're even thinking of going on a recruiting spree."

It was the truth. Players under Thinker's leadership were too busy doing easy, simple quests to grind money and XP. The few adventures that went above and beyond the surrounding First City were either too far or too busy to bother with helping other players. Even Kirito didn't return his PMs …

"Then get me some mercenaries. Player mercenaries, NPC ones are useless." Argo said that as from personal experience.

"I know you have influence with the few fighters around. And I only need a few players to clear this one small dungeon. I can't do this myself." Her details were interrupted when another person joined them, bringing two cups of tea.

"Hey, bro! I've managed to convince Ranjit there to make us this tea. You'll love it. I used to drink entire pots of this when I was studying in -" The tall man noticed the hooded figure on the bench. "Ah, excuse me. Didn't you see there."

"You didn't tell me you had a brother, Ree-don." She smirked. "And a handsome one too …"

"I'm sorry. My Japanese is not very good." Malik said in broken Japanese before reverting to English. "Introduce her, man."

Ridwan let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Malik, this is Argo the Rat. The best information broker in Aincrad. Argo, this is Malik my younger brother." He introduced the two, mixing both languages nearly flawlessly.

The college student set the tea down on the table. "Would you like some tea too, Argo-san?" He gestured to the drinks, still speaking in Japanese.

"Oh, good looking and polite. And you were hiding him from me! How could you!" She spoke fast, hoping the blond could not catch up before turning to Malik. "I'd love some." She said in English this time.

"Okie dokie then!" He left to fetch the tea.

"It didn't matter at the time and I didn't think it was that important." He sipped the light brown tea, enjoying its sweetness. "And I thought you had only your eyes on Kirito."

"Oh we're just friends. Just teasing between friends! That's all!" The Rat blushed under her hood and waved her hand as if trying to physically dismiss the notion.

"Of course, whatever you say." Ridwan hid a smirk behind his cup, storing the new information in the back of his head. "Now about that quest."

"Yes, the quest." Argo turned to Argo again. "Well there's this abandoned building just northwest of here, not too far from the Castle. See, I found out that building contains an unmarked quest."

She had Ridwan's full attention now. "Go on …"

"See, that building wasn't in the beta. But I found out by listening to some NPC chatter, differentiating facts from fiction, trailing a butterfly, interrogating a cat, spoke to birds, stalked a puppy, following the aroma of ectoplasm …"

"Get on with it." He had no interest in listening to Argo's tall tal- wait, what was that last part?

"… and," she laid her map on the table and pointed to a drawn circle. "Here in this building, there exists a printing press." The building wasn't that far from Black Iron Castle, only a few blocks away, situated between two merchant shops.

Her voice took on a more serious tone. "Do you know what we can make with a printing press? Leaflets, maps, newspapers, _a guide book_. Think of the possibilities! You have to admit this is big."

It was. Ridwan had no doubt that Kayaba put a printing press there for a reason. And if they could print things like a guide book, it would help tremendously for newbies and veterans alike. He took a bite of his bread before continuing.

"It's big. You've done a good job, Argo. As for your men, I'll see who I can scrounge up. I'm sure Thinker will help you either way."

"Did I miss anything?" The blonde had returned with another cup in hand. "Ranjit there was being stubborn. Over something as simple as tea saying we had to conserve our rations. But I got it anyway. Here you go, Argo-san."

"Arigato." She held the cup, enjoying the radiating warmth.

"The Rat here needs a few players to help clear a dungeon in the First City. The dungeon contains a printing press and it could benefit all of Aincrad's players a lot." The journalist explained.

"Then we should do it! I can help!" He said excitedly, taking a seat. "And when I say we, I meant me. You take your rest. Thinker's orders."

"I'm not letting you go into some random dungeon without me." The elder said sternly. "I promised mom I'd take care of you and in God's name I'll do that." The younger brother frowned.

"I can take care of myself. It's not that dangerous is it, Argo-san?" Malik asked.

"Oh, not _too _bad. You should at least be level 4. Bring a few other players with you. Maybe some silver weapons." She whispered that last part. That was the clue he needed.

"It has ghosts, right?" It was a statement, not a question.

"Yup. Oh wow, this is some good tea." She stared at her drink with great interest.

"I've never fought ghost type mobs before. Come on, Ridwan. Let me go with some other players!"

The game reviewer sighed. "Why don't you just train in the yard? Are you that bored?"

"Oh I would but Yulier-san has taken command of it recently and she won't let anyone come and train if they're not in the schedule." He shuddered. "That woman is scary. I mean, who carries a whip like that?" Ridwan nodded in agreement.

"I'll even get you some silver weapons! Or if you prefer, **«****Silver Shavings****»** to buff your weapons with. I'm paying." The Rat offered. "Think how much good we can do …"

Argo's appeal to his altruistic side made him relent. "Fine. I think we can hire some players to go with you. I've a guild in mind. Decent fighters, the leader has a good head on his shoulders." He turned to his brother. "And you can go too. BUT be careful."

"Of course, you've nothing to worry about. I'll do some extra prayers just to be on the safe side." He assured him.

"Don't you always do extra prayers?"

Malik looked at his brother as if he grew another head. "There is no such thing as enough praying!"

He turned to the Rat. "I assume you're going to?"

"Of course. Someone needs to start working on the press. You're talking to the head chief of her high school's newspaper here." Argo proclaimed proudly. "Don't worry, Ree-don, I'll make sure your brother is safe. I promise."

"Okay then. I'll go to Thinker and ask for some money." He finished the last of his lunch and wiped his hands with a napkin. "I can get you your mercs in two hours top."

"Good. See you then, Ree-don. Malik-kun." She winked at him and left the canteen.

"What a friendly girl." Malik commented naively. "So, are you going to hire who I think you're going to hire?" The two stood up and left their table.

"Frankly, I think the FurinKazan would do it for free knowing how much good they'll be doing."

"But you're still paying them right?" They walked through the still empty halls, heading to Thinker's room.

"Of course, they perform a service and you give them currency in exchange. That's how the world works."

Malik grinned. "Do I get paid too?"

"Hmm, I suppose."

"How much?"

Ridwan furrowed his brows in thought. "A little." He answered.

"Fair enough."

The two siblings reached Thinker's door but Ridwan hesitated to knock on it. Malik place a hand on his brother's shoulder and told him, "Listen, I'll be fine. I have seven other players with me. I'm not going to die."

"It's just … those people just ... gave up." He could still them, a hundred people standing at the edge. A hundred people falling down, plunging down to the trees. A hundred corpses now stuck entangled in branches of trees, of the land under the floating castle.

"Do I look like I'm giving up? I'm not like them; I won't give up until we beat this game. And we will escape this world, if God wills it." In that instant, his younger brother matured a decade.

And soon as it appeared, he reverted back to his boyish self. "Hey, since you're not going anywhere, can I borrow your longsword?"

Ridwan laughed, and ruffled his brother's hair.

* * *

"Oh welcome back, mister – ah, I'm sorry. I mistook you for someone else."

The customer in front of her was a very beautiful girl, with long orange brownish hair and hazel eyes. She wore a simple combination of a white tunic, red vest, red skirt and brown boots. The girl had a rapier on her belt, a shiny breastplate under the vest, not a single scratch on it. But what really caught Rika's attention was the look in her eyes. It was familiar, plastered to almost every player's face and at one point her own.

She handed the smith her sword. "Can you fix it?" Her voice was as dead as her eyes. It was unnerving.

"Shouldn't be too hard." Lisbeth was still looking down the blade with one eye. "Even you could do it. Just bend it over your knee and pull, simple."

"I'd rather not take the risk. Just hammer it out."

The smith shrugged. "Well okay, that'll cost 50 Col."

"I have the money." She stated.

Lisbeth laid the rapier on her anvil began to hammer at it softly, since the rapier had low Durability. _Tink! _was the sound of steel meeting steel. It was an almost pleasant rhyme to hear. She could see the bent blade taking shape after every strike.

"You're my first customer, you know. Well, my first female customer." The girl merely nodded. _Tink!_

"There was this one other guy, who wanted me to make him this custom knife." She didn't respond to her conversation but Lisbeth continued. _Tink!_

"He was speaking English so fast that I couldn't even catch what he was saying. It almost sounded gibberish." _Tink!_

"Is your English good? Mine's not so much. Never was good at it." _Tink!_

"Turns out he just wanted to sharpen his knife and fix his bracer." _Tink!_

"I didn't have any problems sharpening the knife but fixing his bracer was tough. Toughest sewing mini game ever I tell you. Leather is not easy to penetrate with a needle." _Tink! _

The sound of _tinks _ceased. The smith looked down the blade again and smiled at her work. She handed the rapier back to its owner, hilt first. The fencer paid her the agreed price.

The redhead swung her blade experimentally. The blade wavered and made swoosh noises as it cut through the air, no longer awkward and unbalanced. She slipped her blade back in its sheath with a satisfying clink. The girl turned around to leave.

"Wait!" the smith called out. "What's your name?"

The girl was silent for a moment before answering, "If I make it through the week alive, I'll tell you." She disappeared around the corner.

* * *

She hadn't been here before. The player was northeast of the First City, it took an hour to get to the « Verdant Forest ». The forest was a mixture of green, yellow and brown. Greenery as far as the eye can see. Tall trees acted as a natural roof, casting shadows onto all around. Rays of sunlight barely poked through thick leaves. A pack of Blue Boars was in the distance, minding their own business.

They were slightly bigger from the Boars before and meaner looking, with pointier tusks, redder eyes and bushier fur. They were level 3 while she was still only level 1. Asuna was positive she could take them on. Fighting mobs a couple levels higher than her own level was a quick way to gain XP. It was riskier but the sooner she did this, the quicker she can escape this world. Following standard procedure, Asuna decided to attack the ones at the edge.

The rapier user took a deep breath and pulled out her blade. It's been a long while since she actually used her sword. She tried to recall as much what Ridwan taught her. He was no fencer he told her but his lessons were solid and grounded in reality. At this moment, she regretted not giving more attention to her brother's sparring.

Her first kill went well, needing a cut in the stomach and stab in the eye to bring it down. The second one went very well, only a slice at the throat when the Boar leapt at her. She felt a lot more confident about that. Her third kill was messier, four very hard stabs into the Boar's torso were needed, her aim had suddenly become inaccurate. The girl was rustier than expected.

There were about seven left in the pack but the ones were further away were in a pair. She never once took more than one enemy at a time. The pair of Boars was facing opposing directions, their pink bums facing her. She could do this if she was quick enough. The player focused on her target.

Asuna came in from the left, flanking the Boar. She did a vertical cut aimed at the neck, glowing blood leaked, not gushed out. The Boar's agro was on her and it charged. The rapier user took a step back and stumbled. The animal's tusk scrapped her knee, draining her HP and hurting her. The girl yelled in pain and in her panic gauchely delivered three quick slices to its face. A final strong stab into snout killed it.

The college student grabbed hold of her scratched knee, suddenly remembering the Game Master's warning of pain sensors and feeling very mortal. Not only did the psychopath have the audacity to trap them in this prison world, he had to make them feel physical pain. Her hatred for Kayaba Akihiko intensified.

She didn't have any time to think of all the nasty things she would do to the madman, there was still another Boar to deal with. From her crouched position, she thrust out her sword with both hands. The tip of her blade did not reach the Boar. The charging animal brushed the rapier away and tackled itself into Asuna.

The beast began to bite at her face, Asuna blocked its foul teeth with her arm. The bite of the Boar was strong and she could hear the teeth tearing through her sleeve and flesh. The agony was unbearable and the girl screamed. Hot tears piled up in her eyes as the only thing she could do was to weakly punch its face, her rapier laid uselessly on the ground. The Boar retaliated by stomping its hooves into her torso, the breast plate did little to ease the pain.

Was this how it was going to end?

44 HP left.

Being trampled to death by a blue pig?

36 HP.

To have her brain fried from the accursed helmet?

22 HP.

Dying in some hospital in bed all because of a stupid game.

A wave of acceptance flooded her; perhaps this was for the better.

11.

She could barely see her rapier through wet eyes.

"Coward." It called her.

No.

4.

Her left hand found something hard. She slammed it against the Boar's face, knocking it over.

No!

She bludgeoned it over and over and over and over ….

**NO!**

Her arm stopped, she didn't know how long she did this. She noticed her throat was sore from screaming. The Boar's face was a messy pulp, its skull a dented wreck. Glowing, pinkish bits pooled in the wound she cause and it dripped from the rock she used. She dropped the stone and it fell with a loud thud. Her hands were shaking, her cheeks were wet with tears.

Feet crunched on leaves and Asuna noticed five of the blue mobs surrounding her. Their hooves kicked up dirt and leaves, their red eyes eying her hungrily. Wiping the tears with her arm, she snatched her rapier and got into position. If she died, and she probably will, she'll die fighting. Yuuki Asuna was no coward.

The boar in the middle charged, she prepared to take it down with her.

"STAND BACK!" a mighty voice boomed.

A figure came from the trees and smashed into the Boar with a large shield and with a mighty swing of his sword decapitated the Boar. Two Boars came from the left and he slashed at them with only one swing, diagonally cutting their skulls in half. The last two came from the right, the figure gave a kick strong enough to send one flying against a tree, and the last one got its head smashed as the shield was slammed down on its skull.

Eight seconds. It only took eight seconds for the warrior to slay all of them. The figure turned to her and asked in a much softer voice, "Are you alright, miss?"

The man who saved her was a tall man, clad in strips of metal plates that covered most of his torso. A large rectangular shield was on his left arm. His sword was covered in glowing red blood. He wore white pants and high leather boots. His head was covered in a helmet, with what Asuna thought was some sort of metal broom on it with only his eyes and a small part of his mouth visible. She thought he resembled a Roman Legionary of ancient times. He cleaned his sword with a cloth before sheathing it.

He took off his helmet and placed it under his armpit. The man had long silver hair that was tied in a neat ponytail. He had a stern face, with hardened eyes. It stared right through her and Asuna felt the need to look away.

"Are you alright?" he repeated.

"I'm …. fine. No … I'm not. I only have," she looked at her health bar, "4 HP left." The man pulled something from his belt pouch and handed it to her.

It was an orb with some sort of red liquid inside, just slightly smaller than the palm of her hand. Four elegant silver limbs covered the orb, connected to two circular caps at the 'top' and 'bottom'. She pressed the «Examine» button and read the description:

**«Small Healing Crystal» **

_**It is said that these small crystal orbs contain the tears of the Ruby King, which were shed in joy when He completed His castle in the sky. Whether true or not, none can deny its healing properties. No Alchemist has been able to recreate such effects. Immediately restores **_**100 HP **_**upon use.**_

"You're supposed to crush it in your hand." A gloved hand crushed an imaginary orb. "Like so."

"But … the «Base Value» is 2000 Col. I can't accept this." She said shyly.

"I risked my life to save you. The very least you can do is make sure you don't die." The man said gruffly, frowning. Ashamed, Asuna crushed the Healing Crystal, the glass and silver disappearing in her closed fist. Her health bar filled in an instant and the aching pain went away.

She bowed graciously. "Thank you so much for your assistance. I would have died had you not come along."

His voice became softer in tone. "It is of no problem. We players have to stick together."

The warrior looked at the dead Boars and back at her. "I see you are grinding. Or are you on a Quest?"

"No, I'm just grinding. I thought I could take on something that was higher levelled than me." Her gaze turned to the Boar with the destroyed face. "I was wrong."

"Then perhaps you should join a party. Safety in numbers and such. Your progress might be slower but-"

"No." She cut him off. "If I'm in a team, I would gain less XP meaning I would level slower." She looked at him with determined eyes. "And I need to escape this world as quickly as possible."

"Is there a reason for such haste?"

"Yes! It's incredibly important. I … have to go back to college before my second semester starts!"

There was an awkward silence as the two players looked at each other. The swordsman broke it when he unexpectedly laughed. To Asuna, there was nothing funny about that.

"What? This is important! My studies are important!"

The warrior's laughter died down before he continued. "Oh, I've heard much more valid reasons. I have a family to take care off, my family member is dying, someone has to feed my cat." A chuckle. "I don't think that anyone will fault you for not going to class, miss."

Now that Asuna heard his explanations, she blushed in shame, having no words for a comeback. The warrior slipped his helmet back on and pulled out his map. He said, "I'm heading to a mini-boss battle soon, so partying up with me wouldn't be wise at your level. I trust you know the way out?"

"I'm not going back to town." She answered. "Not until I've reached level 2." If her calculations were correct, a few more Boars would be enough for the advance to the next level.

The swordsman shrugged and she wondered if he thought her foolish or brave. An encouraging smile hinted the latter. "Very well then. Try not to get yourself killed." He replaced the map into a pocket and walked off into her opposite direction. "Perhaps we'll meet again someday."

"Yes, perhaps. And thank you again …."

"My name is Heathcliff." It was a name that commanded respect.

"I'm Asuna."

"Asuna." He walked away and plunged himself deeper into the forest. The player looked at him until he disappeared into a patch of trees. The college student stared at the dead mobs, around the forest and then herself, her breastplate scratched, dented and dirty. The swordswoman steadied herself and readied her sword arm. She performed a few more practice swings.

She could spot black spots in the distance, another pack. Asuna would felt much more scared to deal with them but it was the opposite, she felt confident she could take them on. The threat of death was just another challenge for her to overcome. She wasn't going to make any more mistakes this time.

Yuuki Asuna demanded perfection for herself, it was in her nature. Anything less was unacceptable.

That day before the sun sets, the swordswoman returned to town a level 3 player without losing one point of health.

* * *

"No Ma, I don't want to go to school! All the kids make fun of my bandana!"

He felt a sharp pain to his side as a steel-toed boot kick him in the ribs. Klein awoke from his dream that had something to do with two very attractive blonde twins. He could never remember his dreams, much to his dismay. A girl with whiskers on her cheeks stood above him.

"Wake up your men, Thinker's already here." Argo said, quickly leaving the room. Following her orders (a 23 year old man following a teenage girl's orders, Father would be so proud), Klein went around waking the rest of the FurinKazan with a selection of shakes, slaps, kicks and with the case of Dynam, tickling. That Malik fellow was nowhere to be seen.

"Level 4 she says. It'll be easy with silver weapons she said." He grumbled. The raid had taken longer than expected.

Klein and five of his friends, along with the Rat and Malik-san, had to go through the trouble of going through the «First City Sewers» infested with **«Giant Rats»** which resulted in Harry One and Dynamm poisoned only a few minutes in. Dale had volunteered to run back to the market to buy «Venom Cure». The problem was that the NPC merchants had run out of all their antidotes and Dale had to scour the nearby forest to find natural medicine. All the while the rest of their party had to stay in the stinking sewers, by that time Harry One and Dynamm had already drank most of their Health Potions to negate the poison damage.

That took two and a half hours. The clearing of the printing press took eight.

The «Ghost» type mobs consisted of low HP mobs that resembled sheets with cut out holes for eyes that floated and flew all around the wide and open building. They had the tendency of swooping down and attacking, always utilising hit and fly tactics. It had taken them the majority of their arrows with silver tip arrow heads to take down all of them. Even then, they all had to resort in stabbing the ghosts mid-flight with their spears. Argo was on arrow picking duty the rest of that fight.

"Swooping is bad." Malik said. Everyone agreed.

The more cramped hallways of the building included many close quarter combat where ghost flew through the walls. They had all switch to their katanas and wakizashi as ghost emerged from the left, right, up, down, front and back. Many of their weapons lost a lot of Durability when all of them had to resort to whack-a-ghost. It was a tiring and frustrating experience. When they reached the main room of the head editor, it was locked. Then they all went scouring through the entire building, looking for one specific quest only key.

Issin had found the key under the rug in front of the Head Editor's room. There was a lot of grumbling and cursing from the party, mostly from Argo herself.

Then they head to face the boss of the building named «Ghost of Head Editor Jameson». A mean bearded man with a permanent yelling problem about "Bringing the Truth out to the people!" The boss carried a mean looking cutting knife. When the boss only had of its HP left, all of them had run out of their supply of Silver Flakes. Klein called for a retreat, to which Argo responded,

"NO! THIS IS TAKING TOO DAMN LONG! WE'RE FINISHING THIS QUEST RIGHT NOW!"

She then single handedly beat the living (un-living?) crap out of the mini-boss with her bare hands to the amazement of everyone. Throwing punches and kicks, all while voiding the large blade. When asked how she accomplished it, Argo simply showed off her silver mail mittens and answered, "Plus nine years' worth of kickboxing experience." Klein told himself to never get into a fist fight with the Rat.

And they had to do the whole quest, while carrying torches. They burned through a dozen of them when they all collapsed in exhaustion.

The rest of the FurinKaazan had arrived at the reception room of the building. Malik was on a nearby dusty couch … something. It looked like some sort of pancake. Noticing his presence, the player smiled and greeted him with an "Ohayo!" Or at least that's what he assumed it was, he had his mouth full. Klein replied him back.

Klein spotted Argo talking to Thinker, Ridwan and another person he didn't recognise. He was a man looking to be in his early 40s and had a very serious look on him akin to that of his old high chemistry school teacher. He joined in the discussion.

"This place smells terrible." The unknown man was most likely referring to the smell of ectoplasm, a mixture of exhaust fumes and old cheese.

"Yah it stinks, but you don't notice it when you're fighting for your life." Klein said.

"Ah, Klein was it? You and your men did good job here. We'll be sure to recompense when we get back to HQ." Said Thinker, smiling.

"Sounds good." It kind of wasn't, Klein was hoping to get out of here as soon as possible and get himself some breakfast. His stomach grumbled.

Ridwan gave the guild leader 150 Col. "For breakfast, don't worry my treat. Hey Malik! Maybe you should go tell them where you can get more of that."

Wiping his mouth, the quarterstaff user excitedly told them where to get the best flat bread this side of Aincrad. The samurai wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that.

"Now, we should check the printing machines! Right this way!" Argo said cheerily, leading Thinker and the stranger to the large room where they fought all those ghosts.

Klein divided the money to the rest of his members including Malik. The fighters cheered, happy to finally able to get out of the haunted building. Ridwan said something to his brother as the group was exiting. Klein heard a shout from inside. The journalist rushed further into the building.

"Hey Leader, coming?" asked Issin.

"You guys go on ahead; I'll catch up with you later." Klein went inside without another word.

The large room with the printing press was almost flooded by the essence of dead spirits. With the sunlight coming through the windows, it was much easier to see. The room was wide; with large wooden printing machineries stacked in he assumes the most strategically ideal positions. The printing machines themselves were old, beaten up, rotting and on the verge of falling apart. How Argo was going to get them up and running, he didn't know. These machines were ones from 15th century maybe? He was not familiar with such things.

"…. wasn't part of the deal!" Argo said angrily attracting his attention. Thinker shook his head.

"Listen, Argo. Mister Yakiro here is a very experienced editor. He knows how to run these things and he's been in the business for decades-"

"Oh I bet he's decades old!" Ridwan facepalmed in response to Argo's poor choice of words.

"Listen, girl." Yakiro said. "Do you know how to work 16th century common press printing machines? Do you know how to make the words? Which sheets to use, which levers do what, how to get them working?"

"I …" Argo looked uneasy and nervous for a second before answering, "I've read books! I'll figure it out!"

"And if you take too long? We need to publish that guidebook as quickly as we can. The longer we take, the more people will die. Do you want that?" Thinker said coldly. It came off as a surprise to Klein, who always thought he was the kindest players around.

"But … it was my idea …" The Rat looked at her feet; he couldn't see her face with that hood of hers. Was she crying?

It was Ridwan's turn to speak up. "Thinker, maybe we could have Argo here as the editor and have Mister Yakiro help her out? It's her idea, by all rights this is her building."

"I will NOT be ordered around by a child like that ragheaded imbecile." Klein gritted his teeth; really not liking this guy.

"Thinker-"

"Ridwan," he said sternly. "Yakiro will be in charge. That's final. Argo's a kid; she doesn't know the best way to make this work. It's for the greater good. Understand?"

The journalist shut his mouth. Not liking the decision but seeing the logic behind it. Even Klein understood the situation though he didn't have to like it.

"Yakiro-san, do you know what we should do to get these things working?" He began to discuss, as if the girl next to him did not exist.

The older man pulled out a piece of paper from inside his coat. "We can start by getting enough players with **«Engineer» **skills to get them functioning."

"All right then, I'll ask the Lorenzo for some of his-" There was the sound of wood breaking. All eyes were on Argo as she was smashing a chair against one of the more fragile looking common press. She succeeded in breaking one of the chair's legs off.

"What … what are you doing?! Stop it this instant!" Yakiro yelled.

"If I can't have it," the Rat said quietly and pulled out a torch from under her cloak. "Then neither can you."

"Wait, Argo! Let's be reasonable here …" said Thinker.

She had a fire striker and flint in hand, which she used to ignite her torch.

"Woah there! Calm down!" yelled Ridwan.

The torch was dangerously close to the machines.

"You know," Argo said in an eerie tone, "I've read the journal of the previous head editor this morning, the mini-boss we killed last night. He said that he was being shutdown, forcibly, by those who did not want to others to know the truth." She smiled; the light from her torch made her grin ten times scarier than it needed to be.

"His business was taken away from him by force! And here you are, trying to take MY press away despite it being MY idea?!" If looks could kill both Yakiro and Thinker would be smoking craters by now.

"If you burn it down then you'll lose the opportunity to make this world better for the rest of the other players!" Thinker said, trying to appeal to her humanistic side.

"Screw the other players! They're all a bunch of fools who rather kill themselves then face this new reality! We're all better off if we all died!" Had Argo finally lost it? This was terrifying to Klein. Ridwan was speechless.

"Okay! Okay! You're in charge! Yakiro will follow everything you said!" Thinker finally relented.

"But …" the experienced editor said.

"Not another word, old man!" It was Klein who said it, and to his own surprise grabbed him by the collar. "You follow Argo, got it?"

"I'll obey her! Please don't hurt me!"

"I want a contract! And it has to say I am the sole owner of this building and no one else has the right to take it away from me!" the mad girl demanded. Yakiro took his piece of paper and with blinding speed wrote something on the back. He carefully handed, it was more of a throw, the paper to her.

It only took her a few moments to scan the legal documents. "Excellent!" she pulled out her quill, signed it and place the parchment in her pocket. "I'm glad we can come to an agreement."

"Okay, can we now start working on it?" Ridwan asked.

"Sure thing." She dropped the fire onto the wood. Everyone's heart skipped a beat.

The torch cluttered against the machine and onto the floor harmlessly. A notice on the machine popped up, «Immortal Object». The room was dead silent.

"Argh! Why didn't I notice that before?" yelled Ridwan, but the man was smiling.

"It's because you were too shocked to see someone like me go coo-coo like that, Ree-don." She winked.

"Ah, alright. I'm sorry Argo. It was wrong of me to take your spoils by force." Thinker bowed, his apology sincere.

"Apology accepted. Now, Yakiro-san, go get me some breakfast. Maybe some of that flat bread people have been talking about."

"I am not your errand -" a glare from Thinker silenced Yakiro. Another glare from Klein sent him running out of the building.

The Rat looked at all three men still in the room, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Right then." She clasped her hands. "Time to work on our first publication, «The Aincrad Survival Guide»!"

* * *

**I'm not entirely pleased with this chapter. At least the beginning parts. The first few sections regarding Kayaba, Thinker and co was actually supposed to fit in chapter 2 but it became too long and I had to cut it. It's why this chapter took so long, the beginning parts just had me stumped until I somehow soldiered through.**

**So what we got in chapter 3 is a pretty awkward portrayal of the beginning of the Death Game and the two weeks after it, having Asuna's part as a transition of time. The first parts are more serious than the latter parts. Tell me if you guys have any ideas how to make it better. I'm open to suggestions.**

**Yulier's a military person because I don't know, she just came up that way when I wrote her. Besides, not like we know much about her backstory anyways. Hope you all like her portrayal. I mean come on, she carries a whip. And we all know all modern drill instructors carry whips. I think.**

**Yay, we have Sinon! I was planning for her and Kirito get tackled by a lion and have them team up but it ended up the two just fighting each other. Too many action scenes is not a good idea at this point. And yes, I know Kirito gets hurt a lot in the story. Poor Kirito, his Gary Sue-ness does not carry over to this fic.**

**The closest real life equivalent to Sinon's crossbow is that of a lachet crossbow, a crank built into the crossbow itself but imagine that replaced with a winch. Not as fast as reloading by hand or using a goat hook. If you want a fantasy version, it's a much downgraded version of Varric's Bianca (Dragon Age 2). Don't worry, she'll upgrade that thing during the course of the game. Yes I know she uses a bow in canon, but crossbow felt more sharpshooter for me.**

**You know, I never fully understood the thing with Asuna's suicidal tendencies. If you read the Progressive Manga, which I highly recommend, she gets herself Argo's Guidebook, kills a boar and being awfully proud of herself. Mind you, she's been grinding for a while even before meeting Argo. But then she finds out about ****« Linear » just then? How had she been killing boars before that? Maybe I've got my memory muddled up, that's probably it. The timeframe wasn't the clearest and her introduction to SAO differs from canon in this fic obviously.**

**But that's enough babbling from me. Leave some constructive criticism because God knows this chapter isn't as good as it should be. And if you do that, I might write faster. Quid pro quo, you guys.**

**Also of note, I'm looking for a beta tester- uh, I mean beta reader. Someone mean and gritty and not afraid to tell me what I write is utter crap and can tell me how to better the story. If you want the job, contact me via PM.**

**Lastly, Aincrad Retold discussion can be found in the forums under the SAO Fandom Nexus. Hope to see you there. Till next time.**


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